


A Siriusly Complicated Situation

by lindajenner



Category: Captain America (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-19 10:20:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29749029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindajenner/pseuds/lindajenner
Summary: Sirius went into the veil but he wasn't dead, he fell out the other side in mid-air. High above the alps in Europe. In the middle of the muggles' World War II.How does he get from there to hunting Horcruxes with his godson?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, James "Buck" Barnes/Sirius Black
Comments: 70
Kudos: 184





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rennervate = reviving spell  
> Ad illud = Point to (point me spell)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bombarda = exploding hex  
> Rennervate = reviving spell  
> Ad illud = Point to (Point Me Spell's incantation)

Sirius heard Bellatrix’s cast the Killing Curse and felt something hit him in the chest.

But it wasn’t the instant death like he’d always assumed it to be.

He had time to turn slightly and see the scared expression on Harry’s face before he began to fall backwards. Seeing the arch of the Veil pass over him, he realised that he might not actually **_be_** dead, that Bella’s curse might not have actually **_hit_** him. If he’d been too close to the Veil then there was the possibility that the Veil had converted the Killing Curse to a blast of air, but that would still have been enough to knock him backwards into the Veil’s surface.

Harry’s face faded, the colour leaching out followed by the light, leaving blackness.

Abruptly, that blackness gave way to light. Bright, clear light. A second passed as Sirius shook off the shock of passing through the Veil. A second that cost him, he was falling. And falling from a height. A great height. He was in the mountains. Britain didn’t have mountains like these, these were more like alps than mountains, they went as far as he could see, in all directions.

He forced his arms to work and reached into his coat pocket for the shrunken broom that he’d been working on when Snape’s alert reached Grimmauld Place. A few more precious seconds passed before the broom was large enough to ride, but soon he was soaring in large circle, looking for any evidence to pinpoint his location. If he found none, he’d land and cast a tempus et locus, casting a locus when you weren’t in contact with the ground was doomed to failure. How could magic tag your location on the earth’s surface, if you weren’t **_on_** the earth’s surface?

There! A straight line, that had to have been man-made.

Oh, it was, it was a railway line.

“Oh, thank the Gods.” Sirius whispered and spun the broom in that direction, wary of pushing it too hard, it had been sitting in Grimmauld for years, he could remember learning to ride on it, well before going to Hogwarts. Who knew what it had been through, how it had been used or when it had last been tended to?

A train burst from a tunnel and barrelled around the mountain. As Sirius watched, puffs of smoke came from different places along the train’s length and as it got nearer him, cracks were heard that matched up with the puffs, fractionally delayed by distance.

“That’s not apparition.” Sirius frowned. “Bombarda’s?”

A blast blew a massive hole in the side of the train, up near the engine, a part of the carriage wall peeled away like bark from a tree-trunk.

“Yep, Bombarda.” Sirius huffed. A flash of blue light silhouetted a man’s shape within the hole before he was flung out of the carriage, barely grasping at a handhold on the peeled back wall. “Hold on, Bomarda’s aren’t blue.” He frowned at the discrepancy before focusing back on the train and what was happening there. A few seconds later, a blonde man reached the hole and screamed at the man hanging outside the train and began to clamber along the twisted metal, an arm reaching towards the other man.

As the dangling mad reached for the blonde, ignoring the feet between their outstretched hands, the bar he was clinging to, gave way. Man and bar began to fall.

“Shit!” Sirius exclaimed and pushed his broom into a dive, he couldn’t let someone die, not when he could do something to help them.

His focus turned from the train to the falling man and he leant forward, pushing the broom to speeds ill-advised for an unstable broom. His feet skimmed barely inches above the surface of the snow-covered mountain, just high enough to be above any rocks that protruded but low enough to lessen the drag of air against his body.

Down and down and down. The man’s arms swinging and grasping at nothing were still too far away for Sirius to reach. He snarled and did something that wasn’t a good idea. He flicked his wand at the broom and disabled the safety charms and ‘pushed’ at it with his magic, forcing it to even greater speeds. This was supposed to be a training broom not a quidditch or racing broom, it was supposed to have a top speed of twenty miles an hour, not nearly fast enough to catch someone freefalling.

The man caught sight of Sirius and his broom and his eyes widened even further. His hands moved from reaching for anything, to reaching for Sirius’. Ever closer Sirius crept, uncertain if he would reach the man before the man reached the bottom of the mountain.

Finally, their fingers touched. A gasp and a lunge from Sirius and he had hold of the man’s wrist, the man’s fingers closing about his. Sirius leant back and began to pull back on the broom, trying to get it to level out and slow down. Their mad dash became a slow descent but the broom finally used up its last charm and failed. They were close enough to the bottom of the ravine that the fall wasn’t nearly as dangerous but they still fell thirty-odd feet into the icy river.

Sirius came up spluttering, gasping for breath and spitting out water, he saw the man a few yards away face down in the river, bobbing along like a waterlogged cork, surrounded by the broken pieces of what had been Sirius' broom. He drew in a quick breath and, thankful that he still had hold of his wand, accio’d the man to him. Or that was what he intended to do but the man obviously outweighed him, as Sirius was the one to be dragged through the water. Once he had an arm around the man, tilting the dark head over his shoulder, he focused on the riverbank and apparated out of the water.

It was dangerous, yes, but a man’s life was at risk and Sirius would rather fall from a couple of feet in the air, than have the man drown. His focus was good and they only fell a few inches. He slid the man from his arms to the snow-covered ground and rolled the prone body onto to its side. A few flicks of his wand and the man’s medical condition was floating in the air above him.

“Excellent…” Sirius sighed. “No injuries other than shock and a concussion from hitting the water headfirst.” A few more flicks and the man was dry and a waterproof blanket was between him and the snow, more flicks and Sirius was also dry and warm. “Now to try and wake him.” He was unsure whether a [_rennervate_](reviving%20spell) would work on a muggle. **_If_** the man was a muggle. “ _Rennervate_.” He whispered.

The man jerked upright with a scream. “ ** _Steve…!”_** He looked around frantically.

“Easy…” Sirius knelt in front of the man. “Easy. You’re alright. You’re alright.”

“Wha…?” The man looked at Sirius. “What...? You… You’re the man that… you caught me… You were flying… you caught me…”

“I did.” Something about this man, made Sirius not want to hide what he was, something said that this man needed to know Sirius was a wizard. “Until my broom failed, anyway.”

“Broom…?” The man asked, tilting his head in confusion before groaning.

“You’ve got a concussion, mate.” Sirius warned. “I can’t fix that, so don’t shake your head. Okay?”

“…’Kay…” The man whispered.

“So…?” Sirius asked. “Where are we?”

“You don’t know?”

“Mate, the last thing I knew, I was in **_London_**.” Sirius snorted. “Everything went black and I was falling from the sky above the mountains.”

“Steve!” The man’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit, Steve thinks I fell.”

“You did fall.”

“Yeah, but Steve doesn’t know you caught me.” The man argued. “He’ll think I fell and died. I have to get back to base camp.”

“Do you know where that is?”

“I have the coordinates, yeah.” The man started to nod, only to groan again.

“Okay, no moving your head.” Sirius said. “ _ **You**_ can’t apparate with a concussion, so we’re going to have to walk. Which way are we going?”

“Um…”

“What’s the coordinates?” Sirius asked. “No. Who’s someone you know was going to stay at this base? Their name, I mean.”

“Um… Colonel Chester Phillips is our CO and Peggy Carter is his British aide.” The man whispered.

“Right, I can work with that.” Sirius rolled his hand and let his wand sit flat on his palm. “[ _Ad illud_](Point%20to%20\(point%20me%20spell\)) Colonel Chester Phillips.” He focused on his magic finding the man by this name. His wand wavered for a second before it spun gently to face back upriver. “Oh, good, we can follow the river for a bit.” He sighed in relief.

“What…?” The man huddled in the blanket asked.

“Your colonel?” Sirius replied. “He’s in that direction.” He pointed back upstream. “We can follow the river for a while.”

“Oh… Okay…” The man just looked at him blankly and began to shiver.

“Ah, right.” Sirius grimaced. “Okay, soldier, on your feet.” He did his best to channel Moody ordering the Auror trainees around, he needed the man to move.

The man blinked a few times and began what was clearly the arduous exercise of getting upright.

“Good.” Sirius flicked his wand and the blanket became a winterweight robe, more flicks and warming charms were laid over it. “Let’s go.” He looped his arm around the man’s waist and dragged the man’s arm across his own shoulders. “I’m Sirius, by the way. Sirius Black.”

“Serious?” The man whispered, his head hanging low.

“Sirius. Not serious, like ‘seriously mean that’. More like Sirius, the dogstar.” Sirius chattered. “My family have a habit of naming their kids after stars. My brother was Regulus, my father was Orion and my grandfather was Arcturus.”

“Whoa…” The man muttered. “I thought I had it bad.”

“Yeah? What’d you get?”

“James Buchanan Barnes.”

“My best mate was a James. Great guy, he loved a good prank. Buchanan… eh, that’s not too bad, at least by wizarding standards. Barnes is a muggle name, so there’s not much I can say about that.” Sirius shrugged, raising and lowering James Buchanan Barnes’ arm as it lay across his shoulders. “So, James? Where the hell are we? Or where were you **_supposed_** to be?”

“Bucky. Call me Bucky, I can’t stand James, he was my father and he wasn’t a good one. And we're in Germany... I think.”

“Ah, you got one of them, too, did you?” Sirius ignored the comment about where they were, they weren't in Britain, so it didn't matter, just yet.

“Yeah, he’d rather hit me than work.”

“Know the feeling, mate. Mine would rather hex men than do _**anything**_ else.” Sirius nodded.

“No hexes, whatever a hex is, the old man preferred to use his fists.”

“Hexes are…” Sirius paused. Was he really going to tell this man, Bucky, about magic? He sighed. Yes, he was. “There are four types of spells or different ways to cast magic. Charms, jinxes, hexes and curses. Charms are usually basic things, but you can do some amazing things with charm-work, if you have the skill. Jinxes are a bit darker, not really life threatening and can be shielded against quite easily. Hexes are darker again, they can still be shielded against but you need to cast the right shield or the hex will go straight through your shield. Curses are dark, usually intended to injure or kill, most can be shielded against, but there are three that shields won’t stop. One will kill you, one will make you wish you were dead and the other can make you kill everyone around you.”

“Whoa…”

“Nasty stuff, curses.” Sirius nodded. “I’m trained in everything but those three. I know the theory but I’ve never used them.”

“Huh” Bucky grunted and kept trudging along.

“Any idea how far we are from your base?” Sirius asked.

“We were dropped off about ten miles from base and then climbed over the mountain.” Bucky answered. “As the crow flies? Maybe fifteen miles. On the ground? At least on the other side of that mountain.” He waved his hand in the direction of the mountain in front of them.

“Oh, joy. We’re going to be walking for days.” Sirius sighed.

“Being in the mountains at night is not a good idea.” Bucky warned him. There’s bears and wolves and avalanches.”

“The only one of those we have to worry about are the avalanches.” Sirius snorted. “I can ward against predators.”

“Ward?”

For the next few hours, Sirius talked about magic. How it manifested in children. how they learn to control it. Where they went to learn how to use it. About the various different fields. About Purebloods. About muggleborns. About halfbloods. About squibs. About muggles. About the war that had claimed so many lives. About his time in Azkaban. About Harry and Hermione rescuing him. About living in Grimmauld Place. About the frantic summons from Snape about Harry and his friends going to the Ministry. About falling through the Veil.

Darkness came and Bucky watched in awe, his head having dropped to bearable levels, as Sirius transfigured a handkerchief into a tent, summoned pieces of wood and made a cheery little fire, summoned fish from the river and transfigured rocks into pans and bowls. Plants were summoned and force-grown, to add to a pot.

“Magic is amazing.” Sirius grinned and handed over a bowl of fish stew.

“I love magic.” Bucky grinned back.


	2. Chapter 2

_For the next few hours, Sirius talked about magic. How it manifested in children. how they learn to control it. Where they went to learn how to use it. About the various different fields. About Purebloods. About muggleborns. About halfbloods. About squibs. About muggles. About the war that had claimed so many lives. About his time in Azkaban. About Harry and Hermione rescuing him. About living in Grimmauld Place. About the frantic summons from Snape about Harry and his friends going to the Ministry. About falling through the Veil._

_Darkness came and Bucky watched in awe, his head having dropped to bearable levels, as Sirius transfigured a handkerchief into a tent, summoned pieces of wood and made a cheery little fire, summoned fish from the river and transfigured rocks into pans and bowls._ _Plants were summoned and force-grown, to add to a pot._

_“Magic is amazing.” Sirius grinned and handed over a bowl of fish stew._

_“I love magic.” Bucky grinned back._

The guards at the Howling Commando’s base saw Falsworth stare at the two men staggering up the road and, after raising his binoculars to try and identify them, quickly sent soldiers to help them.

“It’s Barnes!” He called to the squad seated below the watchtower. “He looks injured. Go get him, take him to Phillips’ tent. Him and the fella with him.” When the squad just looked at him, he yelled. “ ** _Now! Move_**!”

The squad leapt into action and within seconds, both Barnes and his helper were being not-so-gently manhandled into the camp and into the tent that Col. Phillips used as his Command Centre. Currently the tent was empty of all but a couple of intel-weenies, that were writing up charts. The two men were deposited in seats and medics swarmed them, demanding answers to a multitude of questions but failing to give either man a chance to actually answer a single question.

Soon the medics declared that Barnes was suffering the remains of a concussion and exhaustion. The unknown man with him, was in a similarly exhausted state but was also identified as recovering from starvation. It was postulated that he may have been a gulag prisoner that escaped into the mountains but the medics considerately didn’t ask. His upper-class British accent identified him as a possible intelligence agent and that put a halt to any questions they wanted to ask, even without him saying anything more.

A tired and saddened Phillips sat in the passenger seat as the jeep was driven into camp by one of the newer members of the Howlies, a young rookie named Juniper. The young man leapt from the open jeep and signalled one of the medics to take Agent Carter to her tent.

“Sir?” A British accent caught his attention and he turned his head to glare at Falsworth.

“Not now.” Phillips snapped.

“Yes now, sir.” Falsworth snapped back. “Barnes is alive. We got back four hours ago and Barnes wandered in an hour later. A civilian found him and helped him get back here. They’re both in the Command Tent.”

 _ **“What?!**_ ” Phillips exclaimed.

“Barnes is alive.” Falsworth repeated. “He and his helper are in the Command Tent, under guard. Jones, Dugan and Morita are watching them, sir.”

“Take me there.” Phillips ordered.

“Yes, sir.” Falsworth saluted, climbed into the jeep’s driver’s seat and put the jeep into gear. It took a few minutes to cross the compound and reach the Command Tent, with Falsworth bringing the jeep to a halt in front of the tent’s opening.

“Let’s go.” Inside, Barnes and a second man were both leaning against the same post from opposite sides, their heads nearly touching. Both men were clearly asleep. “How long have they been here?” Phillips made no effort to keep his voice down but while Barnes leapt to his feet, the other man merely opened an eye and closed it again.

“Sir!” Barnes saluted his CO.

“At ease, Barnes.” Phillips nodded back at him, before turning to the Howlies. “Leave us. I’ll send him along once I have his report.” The four Howling Commandos nodded and left the tent and Phillips turned back to Barnes. “I’d like a report and now.”

“Yes, sir.” Barnes answered. “We cleared the train and-”

“Stop.” Phillips held up a hand. “I’ve had many reports of what happened on the train. Start from you being blown out of the hole in the side carriage.”

“I managed to grab hold of a handrail but it was damaged. Steve… The Captain tried to get to me but he was still a few feet away when the handrail gave way.” Barnes glanced at the unknown man and raised an eyebrow, the man nodded in reply. “I fell. This is Sirius Black, a displaced Brit, he managed to catch me using a…”

“Call it a personal flying device.” A very proper British voice cut in, when Barnes hesitated.

“A personal flying device?” Phillips snorted. “What sort of flying device? A plane?”

“A broom.” Black answered.

“A broom? Like a witch uses?” Phillips snorted.

“Pretty much.” Black shrugged. “Witches’ brooms have different cushioning charms to wizards’ brooms but other than that, they’re the same thing.”

“If you’re not prepared to take this seriously, sir, I will have you-” Phillips cut himself off as he felt his feet left the ground and he rose into the sir supported by nothing more than Black’s angry gaze and the thin stick being pointed at him.

“My name is Sirius Orion Black and I _**was**_ being serious.” Black’s glare slowly softened as Barnes placed his hand over Black’s and pushed it and the stick, towards the ground.

“How’s about you explain it to him, like ya did to me?” Barnes suggested.

Black looked from Phillips to Barnes and back before sighing. “Fine.” He shrugged and Phillips was lowered to the ground.

“What was that?!” He snapped out.

“Magic.” Black answered.

“Like what Schmidt does?” There was clear distaste on Phillips' face.

“No, he could only _**dream**_ of what I can do.” Black snorted. “Think Merlin and Arthur and you’d have a better idea.” Black flicked his stick and the canvas chairs blurred and became elegant armchairs. “Let’s get comfortable and I’ll walk you through a short-ish explanation. Yes?”

“Yes.” Phillips nodded, gingerly sitting in a chair, running his hands along the chair's leather-clad armrests.

The next four hours were filled with Black’s explanation and questions asked by Phillips and Barnes. But at Black’s request nothing was written down.

Nearing dark, Phillips told Black that he would like to bring another person into the discussion and after Black agreed, Carter was recalled from her tent. While waiting for her, Barnes asked after his friend.

“Captain Rogers…” Phillips hesitated and sighed but continued. “We’ve just come from the mission that ended Schmidt. Captain Rogers was able to board Schmidt’s aircraft as he was attempting to escape. There was a fight and Schmidt died, but he’d put the aircraft into some type of automatic control and it was headed straight for New York. Rogers couldn’t remove the auto-control, he could override it but only manually. Every time he let go of the controls the craft would correct course for New York, again. He was forced to put the craft into the water.” Barnes gasped and slumped, Black catching him and easing him to a chair. “There was no time for any other options.”

Carter wasn’t all that pleased to be called out of her grief but listened carefully and asked a multitude of questions.

One of which was, ‘would he be able to locate the remains of Captain rogers?’

Black was extremely apologetic as he explained that unless the craft that Rogers was in had settled to the seabed, he wouldn’t be able to use magic to locate him, both the caster and the being/item being located, had to be in contact with the earth’s surface, even if only via a building's foundations, or the spells just wouldn’t work.

Carter nodded sipped at her tea.

Phillips asked Black how he’d come to be in the air above the alps and while Black grimaced, he gave a brief explanation.

“An archway?” Carter asked. “About thirty foot tall? Fifteen across? The surface ripples like water or really fine silk in a breeze?”

“Yes.” Black nodded. “The stonework is blackened, rough edged, almost broken.”

“Like the wall it was part of had collapsed but it hadn’t.” Carter added. “I know it, or of one like it.”

“Where?” Black asked. “If possible, I’d like to see if I can get it to send me back. My godson is fifteen, alone and there’s a war coming.”

Carter and Phillips shared a long, silent look before Phillips nodded.

“New York.” Phillips said. “You’ll have to wait until we head back. I’ve been notified that we’ve been recalled. Germany surrendered. The war’s over. Carter will see that you are among the first to head to the US and she’ll get you in to see the arch. If you can get it working, we might be able to help you. Maybe send some troops.”

“No, don’t.” Black said. “Your people… It’s supposed to be a one-way trip. Up until now, we believed the Veil killed those that went into it.”

“But you lived.” Barnes argued.

“I did, but you also have to take into consideration time travel.” Black said. “I entered the Veil sometime between one and two in the morning on the 18th of June 1996.” Both Phillips and Carter caught their breaths. “Exactly. Me re-entering the Veil? Well, there’s a chance that I’ll just be returned to where and when I came from. But your people? Going forward in time is… bad… the variables are… enormous. For your people, there’s no way back.”

“I have nothing to come back for.” Barnes said. “My family is gone. My father’s an abusive asshole. Steve’s dead. There’s nothing for me here. If I can help you keep your godson alive, I’m coming with you.”

“I-” Carter opened her mouth and was cut off.

“No.” Black frowned at them both. “You’re not making a choice now. You’ve had a bad shock and any decision you make right now, will be a bad one.”

“Exactly right.” Phillips nodded sharply. “It’ll be weeks before we can get Black and Barnes to New York and then Black still has to study the arch-Veil thing, before he can work out whether he **_can_** get it to do what he wants. No hasty decisions, Missy, Barnes. Get your heads back on your shoulders before you make too many plans. Understood?” Barnes reluctantly nodded.

Carter glared at the commander before nodding sharply. “Yes, sir. Shall I see to accommodation and clothing for Mr Black?”

“Put him in with Barnes.” Phillips said. “Pack up Rogers’ stuff, we’re not leaving his personal stuff for the army ghouls to dig through. I suggest you conveniently **_misplace_** anything you want to keep.”

“I can help with that.” Black said. “Find me a box and I’ll enchant it with an undetectable extension charm, it makes the inside larger than the outside.”

“Good, do that.” Phillips said. “Just leave some or the brass will be complaining that someone’s taken it all and launch an investigation. Let’s avoid that.”

Later that evening, an unlabelled army trunk was subject to a number of different types of magic. Mostly runes and charms. The result was a trunk that was extended inside, that would shrink to the size of a deck of cards. As Barnes, Black and Carter sorted through Rogers’ things, stories were told, tears fell and the trunk was packed with memories of a man that was larger-than-life.

One year and seven months later, Sirius stepped into the small set of rooms that he shared with Barnes, in the nondescript building, in Brooklyn, New York, that housed the Veil. He shed his coat and crossed the room to the kitchenette and hugged the other man from behind.

“I found it.” He said, resting his head on the taller man’s shoulder-blade.

“You found it? The cypher?” Bucky wriggled until he was able to turn around within Sirius’ arms and raised one hand to rest on Sirius’ face. “You found it? Good or bad?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“I can get it to send me back.” Sirius said. “I can even get it to send you there, but…”

“But…?”

“The Veil’s designed to be accessed using magic and you have none, if you go through it, it will change you.” Sirius avoided looking at Bucky's eyes.

“Changed? How?” Bucky asked.

“I don’t know.” Sirius sighed. “That’s the problem, it just says, ‘changed’. Not how. I mean, the how is magically, of course, but I kind of meant I don’t know what the changes will be.”

“Yeah, I figured that.” Bucky pressed a kiss to the top of Sirius’ head and looped his arms around the older man. “I’m still coming with you.” He clasped Sirius’ upper arms and pushed him back far enough to look him in the face. “You said, you friends won’t judge me for being a muggle, right?” 

“Right. They won’t care, other than it makes you vulnerable to someone casting magic on you.”

“They have to know I’m there, first, Siri, I’m a snipper, I’m used to being up high and out of sight. But what about Harry?”

“He won’t care, neither will Hermione, his best friend. She’s a muggleborn, her family are muggles. And Harry grew up with muggles, not nice ones, but still muggles. If you can teach him to fight the muggle way, he’ll be fine.” Sirius said soothingly. “Moony won’t give a damn, his ma was a muggle. A number of the order have muggle family, they won’t care. It’s only the purebloods and the DeathEaters that will object.”

“And neither of us gives a damn about them.” Bucky nodded. “When are we doing this? And what are we taking?”

“I need to send word to Carter and Phillips.” Sirius said. “That was part of our agreement. I keep them up to date on my research and they give me unlimited access to the Veil. Giving us accommodation, an income and providing you with employment while I’m here, was a bonus.”

“Yeah.” Bucky nodded. “I expected to be dishonourably discharged, the minute the brass found out we were sleeping together.”

“Thank Phillips for that.” Sirius chuckled. “He blasted someone’s eardrums out. Told them that what we did behind our doors was our business and if they were really demanding more information, he was of half a mind to ask us to tell them but that personally, he didn’t want to know. And he also reminded them that James Buchannan Barnes was no longer in the army, he was employed by the SSR, so an army discharge wasn’t going to happen.”

“Whoa…” Bucky whispered.

“Yeah. He really laid in the beater’s bat.”

“Phillips doesn’t suffer fools.”

“Oh, no, definitely not.” Sirius laughed. “He reminds me of my Auror mentor, Moody.”

“The guy with one leg?”

“That’s him. Constant vigilance. That’s his motto. Likes to yell it, when we least expect it.”

“Great.” Bucky sighed.

“The fact that you’re a sniper and see just about everything? He’s going to love having you around.” Sirius frowned. “Once you explain what a sniper is and what they do, that is.”

Phillips and Carter sat opposite Sirius and Bucky and listened carefully as Sirius laid out his research finding and explained what he and Bucky planned to do.

“So, the solstice?” Carter asked.

“Almost, that’s December 21st.” Sirius nodded. “We’re going to go in, a couple of days earlier.”

“Why the solstice?” Phillips asked.

“The solstices are the turning points in the natural world.” Sirius explained. “Summer to Autumn, Autumn to Winter, etc. I went into the Veil three days before the June solstice and was spat out here, three days before the March solstice. My arithmancy says that for the best possible result, I should enter the Veil three days before the December solstice and I’ll be spat out there three days before the September solstice.” He shrugged. “Either that or it’ll be three minutes after I entered the Veil. That’s a little vague. Both possibilities come up equally viable.”

“Then we’ve got a lot to do in the next few weeks.” Bucky said.

“Write up your wish lists and I’ll see what we’ve got in stock and what I can requisition.” Phillips ordered.


	3. Chapter 3

_“The solstices are the turning points in the natural world.” Sirius explained. “Summer to Autumn, Autumn to Winter, etc. I went into the Veil three days before the June solstice and was spat out here, three days before the March solstice. My arithmancy says that for the best possible result, I should enter the Veil three days before the December solstice and I’ll be spat out there three days before the September solstice.” He shrugged. “Either that or it’ll be three minutes after I entered the Veil. That’s a little vague. Both possibilities come up equally viable.”_

_“Then we’ve got a lot to do in the next few weeks.” Bucky said._

_“Write up your wish lists and I’ll see what we’ve got in stock and what I can requisition.” Phillips ordered._

“Okay…” Peggy looked from Bucky to Sirius. “The first thing we need to know is…? What weapons are you taking?”

“I want a couple of sniper rifles.” Bucky said. “But I was thinking… Maybe not standard ones. What do ya reckon our chances are of getting Stark to customise somethin’ for us?”

Peggy blinked. “I might be able to talk him into something. I don’t know, it depends on what you want?”

“We were hoping that he could modify some of the stuff we use in the field.” Bucky answered. “Mainly the Colt, the Walther and the Johnson. Siri thinks he can charm the magazines to be… what was it… never-ending?”

“Ever-full.” Sirius corrected. “I’d need to take the magazine apart and etch a series of runes on the inside of it, that were linked to a second set inside a second magazine that bullets were funnelled into.”

“That would require a bit of work.” Peggy mused.

“Not really, a large box of bullets and some time, is all.” Sirius objected. “I can summon them out and lay them all out, butt-first, then we’d need some sort of physical linking mechanism. Like those bullet-chains used for the big anti-personnel guns. I can link smaller bullets together using magic but the moment one goes passed the linking runes for the magazines, the magical link between bullets would fail. A physical link wouldn’t. ”

“I’ll call Howard and get him to come over.” Peggy nodded. “Between the three of you, you should be able to work it out.” She made a note on the notepad in front of her. “What else?”

“Some knives, KA-bars and the like.” Bucky replied. “Not a lot, maybe a dozen. I don’t expect to need them but I’d rather have them and not need them, than need them and not have them.”

“That’s true.” Peggy nodded. “Anything else?”

“Not really.” Bucky shrugged. “I thought about some grenades, but… I can’t see the point. Sirius says that he and Remus can always make up some Molotov cocktails using potions instead of alcohol.”

“We can use some of the more volatile potions.” Sirius grinned. “We can add some Erumpent potion, some exploding potion, some garrotting gas, maybe some jawbind potion… if we can made it contactable rather than ingestible… Then there’s the prank potions, marauder bombs, we used to call them. Laughing potions make the user laugh uncontrollably, laxative potions do what you think, manegro makes the user’s hair grow rapidly, stink-it-up potion turns into a noxious green gas that on contact with a warm surface… a living body… turns into a sticky green acidic goo, polyjuice turns someone into an exact replica of another person but if you substitute human hair for animal hair… you get some interesting results.” He laughed and turned to Bucky. “Remember to ask Hermione about second year and where she messed up with polyjuice.”

Peggy eyes opened wide. “Can anyone make them?”

“If you can get ingredients, yes.” Sirius nodded. “Getting them is going to be the hard bit. Here, I mean. There, it’s easy, I can just owl-order anything I want. You? Some things grow naturally but I don’t know if the muggle plants will have the same properties as those grown around magic.”

“Ah.” Peggy sighed. “Well, it was a nice thought, while it lasted.”

“Yeah.” Sirius grimaced.

“What else is on your list?” The woman asked.

“After the weapons?” Bucky asked in reply. “Only clothes and some food.”

“Why so little?” Peggy frowned.

“A number of reasons.” Sirius answered. “The main reason is I have resources back there, an entire estate’s worth, plus, we just don’t know what we’ll be stepping out into. And that causes some issues. There are four options for our exit from the Veil. One? We exit three days before the September solstice, in the Veil chamber. Two? We exit three days before the September solstice, in my preferred location in Scotland. Three? We exit three minutes after I entered the Veil, in the Veil chamber. Four? Three minutes after I entered the Veil, in Scotland.”

“And the benefits or issues of each?” Peggy had her pen ready to take notes.

“One?” Sirius held up a finger. “September solstice, in the Veil chamber. The Veil chamber is underneath the Ministry, getting out could be a problem. I might be able to use a portkey but I won’t know until we’re in there.” He held up a second finger. “Two? September in Scotland. Kind of depends on how far above the ground we exit. The Veil chamber is underneath the Ministry, right in the bowls of London, I exited as far above the alps as the Veil was underground. The Veil here, is at ground level, so I’m hoping that we come out at ground level.” A third finger. “Three? Three minutes after entering the Veil, in the chamber. The Aurors and DeathEaters will probably still be there. If they aren’t, the Unspeakables will be. We might have to fight our way out.” A fourth finger. “Four? It's my preferred of all the options. Three minutes later, in Scotland. I can contact a few people and get things in place pretty fast. By the time the sun rises we should be set and ready to move forward.”

“And because the situations can be anything from isolated to the middle of a security nightmare…” Bucky added. “We have to be able to carry everything on us. The less we take the better we’ll be able to move.”

“I see…” Peggy was scribbling as she nodded. “Yes, yes, I understand.” She looked up. “How many weapons will you be taking? Assuming I can get Howard here and assuming that you and he are successful in modifying them, that is.”

“Each of us will have a modified M1941 Johnson rifle strapped to our backs and the pistols in harnesses, everywhere.” Bucky answered. “I want at least four of the Walthers PPKs, Harry and Hermione are both smaller, the Walthers will suit them better. A dozen of the Colt M1911s, more if you can work out a way for us to carry them.” He shrugged. “A backpack with clothes and some food. The shrunken boxes of ammo have to be attached to our belts. That’s it.”

“I think we can work this out.” Peggy nodded with a smile. “Let me call Howard and see how soon he can get here.”

It took Sirius and Howard two weeks to stabilise the modifications to the various gun magazines and work out a method of connecting the bullets. A fine thread was attached to each bullet using a speck of synthetic glue, the thread was enough to physically link the bullets and funnel them into the first of the linked magazines. The rune at the base of the first magazine linked to a rune-set at the base of the second magazine, as each bullet reached the first rune, it was banished to the second rune-set, ensuring that the magazine in the gun was always full. As each bullet moved up the magazine, towards the firing chamber, it passed a third rune-set that dissolved the glue and the thread, leaving behind only a minute speck of high-quality gun oil, nothing that could get jammed in the firing mechanism.

Howard even came up with the idea of shrinking the boxes of ammo and attaching them to the base of each gun’s handgrip or magazine with magnets, enabling them to remove the boxes and resupply them. He also designed harnesses for the excess pistols, that could be attached to the harness for the Johnson rifle that would be worn on their backs.

Peggy took Bucky’s preferred uniform (or lack thereof) and had it copied for him. The trousers and boots were fine but she had his blue double-breasted jacket made into a longer greatcoat, while still keeping the colour and cut. His utility belt would now be worn under his coat and would have a number of small pouches, each one containing a shrunken bag; of clothing, of food or other supplies.

After that it was the long and arduous task of making the bullet chains and as they wanted each pistol to have a minimum of 10,000 rounds, it was going to take them most of the time between then and entering the Veil.

“So…?” Howard Stark looked from Bucky to Sirius and back again.

“So?” Bucky repeated back, more focused on the large table and its contents, than Howard’s curiosity.

“So? You two are… are… you know…” The genius trailed off, gesturing from one to the other.

Bucky and Sirius exchanged amused glances and Bucky continued to check their supplies against the list Peggy had written up.

“We’re what?” Sirius raised a brow at Howard. “Lovers? Yes, we are. We’d be married if we weren’t in Merlin-be-damned 1946.”

“Huh.” Howard grunted. “How’d that happen?”

“You really want to know?” Sirius smirked.

“No! Not the details.” Howard squawked. “I meant… How’d you get together? Who spoke up?”

Sirius laughed. “He’s a sniper, Howard, a **_sniper_**. They see _**everything**_.” He threw a half-hearted glare at Bucky, who ignored it and kept ticking things off the list after he went over each item. “Even when you don’t think he’s looking, he still sees everything.”

“I saw the way his eyes followed some of the guys.” Bucky chuckled. “ ** _Particularly_** when they were walking away. So, I cornered him one morning.”

“Before I was wake properly, I might add.” Sirius snarked. “I hadn’t even got a cup of _**tea**_ and he was asking questions that I shouldn’t have answered but I wasn’t awake enough to stop myself and before I knew it, he’d talked his way into us sharing a room.”

“And a bed.” Bucky added and got swatted for his efforts.

“Hush, you. Keep checking that stuff.” Sirius ordered.

Howard laughed. “That’s the best way to get answers. Well done.” He congratulated Bucky.

Peggy walked in the door and both Howard and Bucky smothered their snickers at Sirius’ red face.

“Oh, dear.” She sighed. “Do I want to know?”

“Nope.” Howard laughed. “But I win, Barnes was the one to make the first move.”

“Bugger.” Peggy swore and dug into her pocket, pulling out a handful of crumpled notes. “$5 wasn’t it?”

“Yep.” Howard grinned at the stunned looks on both Bucky and Sirius’ faces, as he snatched up the held out money.

“You… You were **_betting_** on us?” The wizard squawked.

“Yep.” Howard nodded.

“Of course.” Peggy said at the same time.

“How long?” Phillips snapped as he stomped into the SSR’s version of a Veil chamber.

“About five minutes, we estimate.” Peggy answered.

“You got everything?” He directed the question at Bucky and Sirius.

“Guns with enchanted magazines. Knives. Clothes. Food.” Bucky answered. "Shrunken boxes. We're good to go."

“Documentation?” Phillips asked.

“No point.” Sirius said. “We’re travelling fifty years into the future, any documentation that Bucky had is going to be worthless.” He frowned. “And I’m not entirely certain, it’s even the same world.”

“Meaning?” Phillips snapped.

“You’d never heard of the magical world.” Sirius explained. “During the muggle World War Two, there was a magical war going on at the same time and I kind of expected there to be hints of it, it should have been obvious if you knew about magic but I’ve heard nothing. Mind you, I’m not familiar with how MACUSA runs things in America. I could just have missed it altogether.”

“Ah. I see.” Phillips nodded.

“Anyway, I’ve got a contact that can get him papers and get them lodged in the muggle world, if we need to.” Sirius went on. “But if we stay in the magical world, it doesn’t really matter. Identification works on blood. As soon as I can get Albus or Moody involved, we’ll bond… ah, that’s the magical equivalent of marrying… and that should be enough for Bucky to register on a Gringotts’ test. They handle all the identity related matters in the wizarding world.”

“Right.” Phillips nodded. “What about finances, when you get there?”

“I’m the last Black.” Sirius grimaced. “By default I inherit the title and the estate. It’s worth a mint. But Bucky’s a stubborn man, he cashed in his army pay and given it to Howard to invest. If we are in the same world, that'll give him a nice nest egg, once we arrive. If Bucky's not contacted either Howard, Peggy or one of the Howlies by December 1997, it's to be used to support returned vets.”

“It’s not a huge amount.” Howard added. “But I'll invest as best I can. It should have a nice return by 1996.”

“Thanks.” Bucky said.

“Come see me, when you get there.” Howard mock saluted and sauntered from the chamber.

“Only Stark.” Phillips muttered.

“Be grateful there’s only one of him.” Peggy warned.

“Oh, I am.” Phillips nodded. “I most certainly am.”

An alarm quietly beeped.

“One minute, gentlemen.” Peggy warned.

“Yes, ma'am.” Bucky stood up and began to check Sirius’ gear, once he was done, Sirius checked his in return. “We’re good to go.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tempus et Locus = time and place (location spell)  
> Aetate Revelare = Reveal Age

_“Come see me, when you get there.” Howard mock saluted and sauntered from the chamber._

_“Only Stark.” Phillips muttered._

_“Be grateful there’s only one of him.” Peggy warned._

_“Oh, I am.” Phillips nodded. “I most certainly am.”_

_An alarm quietly beeped._

_“One minute, gentlemen.” Peggy warned._

_“Yes, ma'am.” Bucky stood up and began to check Sirius’ gear, once he was done, Sirius checked his in return. “We’re good to go.”_

Sirius Black landed on his hands and knees while his travelling companion (and lover), Bucky Barnes, landed on his feet and with some staggering, managed to stay on them.

“Bugger.” Sirius muttered.

“Did it work?” Bucky asked.

Sirius raised his head and saw the familiar shape of the Shrieking Shack. “We’re in Scotland, but I don’t know when, yet.” He replied. “Give me a moment and I’ll check.” His wand was pulled from the holster that Howard had made him, from very fine metal cables woven like fabric. “ _Tempus et Locus_.” He cast and watched as his own writing appeared in the air.

**_11:15pm_ **

**_15 th June 1996_ **

**_12 Cuthbertson Lane_ **

**_Hogsmeade, Scotland._ **

“Oh…” Sirius exclaimed almost silently.

“What?” Bucky raised his head sharply and looked to Sirius, who was still studying the floating writing. Bucky turned his attention to them and frowned. “Was that an option?”

“No, it wasn’t.” Sirius replied.

“I think we have another problem, too.” Bucky was now looking at Sirius’ face.

“What now?” Sirius muttered, still focused on the writing.

“Um…?” Bucky hesitated, causing Sirius to turn away from the floating lettering and look at Bucky.

It took a nearly a minute but Sirius finally realised what Bucky was seeing. “Oh, Merlin…” He whispered. “You’re younger.”

“Not just me.” Bucky protested.

“Me…?” Sirius grimaced.

“Yep.”

“Ah… By how much, I wonder?” Sirius lifted his wand and cast again. “[ _Aetate Revelare_](Reveal%20Age).”

In front of Bucky’s chest a series of numbers began to form, they started slowly before speeding up and blurring, eventually settling into a steadily glowing series.

**_25yrs, 3 months, 8 days, 4 hrs._ **

“Right…” Sirius said slowly.

“Well?” Bucky asked.

“You’re twenty-five.” Sirius responded. “But I can’t cast that on myself.”

“So we need another wizard?” Bucky already knew the answer to that.

“We do.”

“So how do we get someone here?” Bucky asked. “And who?”

Siris didn’t answer, instead he reached out and took hold of the collar of Bucky’s coat and pulled him closer, close enough to press his lips against Bucky’s for a few seconds. When he pulled back, he whispered. “[ _Expecto patronum_](Patronus%20charm).” Once the silvery version of his Animagus form shimmered into place in front of him, he whispered again. “Message to Remus.” The Grimm nodded and it’s mouth opened in order to accept the message. “Umm… Think something went sideways, there. Meet me at the house of the moon.” He nodded and the Grimm turned and vanished into the nearest tree. “Right, that should reach Moony in a minute or so.”

“So, where do we have to go?” Bucky asked.

“There.” Sirius pointed at the tumbledown shack about a hundred yards away.

Four-hundred-and-fifty-odd miles south, a sandy haired man slumped in a dirty chair, in an equally dirty room. He’d just watched his best friend killed and the nephew of his heart possessed and tortured by a madman. His elbows rested on the dirty table and his head lay on his arms, while his shoulders trembled with suppressed sobs.

A warmth infused him, a familiar warmth and the feel of his friend’s magic surrounded him.

It was quickly followed by his friend’s voice. “Umm… Think something went sideways, there. Meet me at the house of the moon.” He raised his head just in time to see his friend’s Patronus collapse in on itself.

“What the…?” He gasped silently. He sat there for a few seconds, in a state of shook, before the shock faded enough for him to grasp what the Patronus meant. “ ** _Alive…?!”_** He leapt to his feet and dashed from the kitchen, passing Molly and Arthur Weasley in the hallway.

“Remus?” Molly asked.

“No time.” Remus yelled over his shoulder.

“Remus?” Tonks asked as he reached the door.

“No time, must dash.” He ran out into the night and stopped in the middle of street, pausing briefly, then apparated away.

The shack appeared before him and he hurried towards the only external entrance to the building that he’d spent so much time in. Inside, he climbed the stairs to the trashed sitting room that was the marauders’ meeting place.

Over near the fireplace, stood an impossibility.

“What do we say?” He snarled.

“I solemnly swear I am up to no good.” The impossibility answered.

“How do we ask?” Remus asked a second question.

“Mr Padfoot requests the assistance of Mr Moony, in working out how the hell, whatever the hell it was, happened.” Sirius snorted. “And maybe setting up a prank on the Ministry and old snakeface, as he believes that Mr Padfoot is dead.”

Remus leapt across the room and engulfed the smaller man in a smothering hug.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d be jealous.” A third voice said, causing Remus to leg to of Sirius and spin towards the unknown voice, a hex leaving his wand as the man came into view.

Sirius gasped as a red light flew towards the man. It dissipated as it touched him, leaving the three men staring at the man’s chest. “Was that supposed to happen?” He asked.

“No…” Remus frowned and cast again.

“Oi, leave him alone.” Sirius swatted at Remus.

“What was it supposed to do?” The third man asked.

“Uh…” Remus grunted his confusion.

“Stunning spell.” Sirius answered.

“Like what you used on Howard?” The man asked.

“Yep. The same.” Sirius crossed to the man’s side. “That didn’t touch you?” He laid a hand on the man’s chest.

“It did.” The man nodded. “It just didn’t do anything.”

“I wonder why?”

“Padfoot?” Remus asked.

“Oh, right, introductions.” Sirius pulled the man with him as he re-joined Remus. “Moony, this is James Buchannan Barnes, also known as Bucky.” He patted Bucky’s arm.

“Moony?” Bucky asked. “Remus Lupin, right?”

“Yes, love.” Sirius nodded.

“Love?” Remus asked, raising a brow.

“Love.” Padfoot nodded.

“How long?” Remus narrowed his eyes.

“Nearly two years.” Sirius grimaced.

“The Veil sent you somewhere, didn’t it?”

“Germany, 1945.”

“For two years?”

“One full year and three solstices.”

“And you were with him? All that time?”

“He saved my life within minutes of arriving there.” Bucky answered. “I wasn’t letting him go.”

“Squib?”

“Muggle.” Sirius shook his head. “Or he was…”

“Was…?” Remus tilted his head.

“I cast an age revealing cast on him earlier and it worked but your stupefy didn’t.” Sirius had a contemplative expression on his face.

“We need more information.” Remus wore a similar expression.

“For those of us not marauders, an explanation, please.” Bucky sighed and shook his head.

“My magic worked on you but Remus’ didn’t, we need to know why.” Sirius explained in a single sentence.

“The Veil-thing?” Bucky had sat through enough of Sirius and Howard’s sessions to know that the Veil changed things that entered it.

“Yes, but how, in what way?” Sirius said. “Is it just my magic that works on you or is it just offensive spells that don’t work? Or is it just stunning spells that don’t work? Or is it that charms work on you but hexes don’t? What about jinxes and curses?”

“Ah.” Bucky nodded. “Have Remus cast few non-offensive spells. That should give you something to base future research on.”

“True.” Sirius nodded. “Remus? Colour change jinx, followed by a toe-biter hex, then a tickling jinx and a warming charm. If you please, Mr Moony?”

Remus looked at Bucky and when the man nodded, he cast the spells, waiting a few seconds between each one to see if they worked or not.

“Nothing…” Sirius frowned. “Try the age revealing charm, please.” Remus nodded and cast and the three watched as still nothing happened. “Huh… Okay. So we can rule out Remus’ magic.”

“Yeah.” Bucky nodded. “But is it only his or is it all but yours?”

“We’d need another wizard for that.” Sirius said.

“So, who we calling, this time?” Bucky grinned.

“Hold up, hold up.” Remus held up his hands. “A minute ago, you mentioned the ministry and snakeface thinking you were dead. Let’s focus on that, please. We can sort out the magical immunity later.”

“He’s right.” Bucky said.

“But-”

“Siri.” Bucky said firmly.

“Bugger.” Sirius muttered. “Alright. I went into the Veil. There were witnesses, right? Not just you and Harry. Oh, Harry…” Sirius shook himself. “Focus, focus. Right. Witnesses.”

“Yes, the Minister hear Bellatrix claim to have killed you.” Remus nodded. “Moody told Albus what happened. The kids were taken back to Hogwarts and Albus was going to talk to Fudge before he headed back there, too.”

“I’m dead, right?” Sirius grinned. “If snakeface thinks I’m dead, he’s not going to be looking for me.”

“Particularly, as you look a lot younger, now.” Bucky said, causing Remus to blink and focus on his friend.

“Gods, he right, you do look younger.” Remus whispered.

“Cast the age revealing charm in him, please.” Bucky requested. “The Veil-thing changed my age, too. I was only a few months off of turning thirty and now, according to Siri’s charm, I’m a few months passed twenty-five.”

“[ _Aetate Revelare_](Reveal%20Age).” Remus said firmly, his wand pointed Sirius and waited for the letters and numbers to appear in front of Sirius’ chest.

**_25yrs, 7 months, 16 days, 19hrs._ **

“Oh, that’s nice.” Sirius beamed at Bucky and the two shared a private moment without Remus feeling like he had to turn away.

“It’s also very handy.” Remus said after a few moments. “A minor transfig of your features and no-one is going to assume you’re Sirius Black, you’re too young.”

“Excellent…” The other marauder smirked.

“What do you plan to do?” Remus asked nervously, Sirius’ plans tended to be convoluted.

“New identity for me.” Sirius started. “New papers for Bucky. Marry Bucky. Get Albus to approve Bucky and I training Harry… and maybe Ron and Hermione. Get Albus to actually explain why he thinks Harry is so important to this war. And help Harry do whatever it is he has to do, to end this war.”

“Hmm…” Remus hummed. “New identities and papers are going to mean Moody followed by Gringotts. The rest requires Albus’ involvement.”

“I know.” Sirius shrugged. “I’m hoping he can see the benefit of letting me play dead until the war’s over.”

“Shall I send him a Patronus?” Remus asked.

“Please do.” Sirius nodded and raised a brow at Bucky’s frown. “Ah…?”

“I’m not kissing him.” Bucky objected.

Remus started to laugh and Sirius went bright red.

“You… You don’t need to.” Remus chuckled. “Patronus charm is powered by positive emotion, having Sirius back is positive enough for me.”

“No-one’s kissing you, but me.” Sirius growled.

“No, I’m fine with that.” Bucky nodded and pulled Animagus against him, resting one hand on the other man’s hip, his thumb sliding under the waist of his trousers.

Albus Dumbledore sighed as he left Minister’s office and headed for the atrium and the apparition points. Before he could reach them, however, a Patronus in the form of a large wolf, reached him and delivered its message.

“ _Albus, I need you to come to the house of the moon, I have **Grimm** news_.” There was an odd emphasis on the word ‘Grimm’.

He knew, of course, that the wolf was Remus Lupin’s Patronus, but the message confused him. The barely hidden excitement and the phrasing made Dumbledore frown and he decided that perhaps he had best see what had upset the werewolf before he retired for the night, even though dawn was only a few hours away.

Upon reaching the atrium, he apparated away, appearing in a hidden spot between Hogsmeade and the Shrieking Shack. He sighed and entered the shack, greeted by a beaming Lupin.

“What is so important that it could not wait until morning, Remus?” Dumbledore asked.

“Turn around.” Lupin pointed behind Dumbledore.

Dumbledore spun in place and blinked in shock at what he saw. A clean, tidy and very much younger Sirius Black being passionately kissed by another man.

“Ahem, excuse me, gentlemen.” Lupin interrupted them.

“What?” Black raised his head, only to meet the amused gaze of his former Headmaster. “Albus!” He cheered.

“Sirius Black.” Dumbledore whispered.

“I’m ba-ack…” Sirius said in a sing-song manner.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vasikós Orismós = core definition
> 
> Fidelius = Secret keeping charm

_“What is so important that it could not wait until morning, Remus?” Dumbledore asked._

_“Turn around.” Lupin pointed behind Dumbledore._

_Dumbledore spun in place and blinked in shock at what he saw. A clean, tidy and very much younger Sirius Black being passionately kissed by another man._

_“Ahem, excuse me, gentlemen.” Lupin interrupted them._

_“What?” Black raised his head, only to meet the amused gaze of his former Headmaster. “Albus!” He cheered._

_“Sirius Black.” Dumbledore whispered._

_“I’m ba-ack…” Sirius said in a sing-song manner._

“But… But the **_Veil?”_** Dumbledore stammered.

“Spat me out the other side.” Sirius shrugged.

“The other side?”

“From researching the Veil, I’ve been forced to the conclusion that where the Veil spits out those that enter it, is different for each person.” Sirius started.

“Research?” Dumbledore asked. “Where did it send you?”

“Germany, 1945.” Sirius replied. “I’ve spent the last year and a half, since then, studying it. Finally, I worked out how to get it to send me back, here.”

“How…?” Dumbledore was reduced to one-word questions.

“Runes, Albus.” Sirius explained. “Hours upon hours of studying runes and working out what each of them represented. They’re not ideographic like is taught in Study of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts. They’re used as individual alpha-numerical symbols. It took me months, after figuring that out, to work out how to get it to… well… basically send me ‘return to sender’ using the point of origin of the last use. Even then, it was touch and go. I had four possible ‘return’ destinations. The first was September solstice in the Veil chamber, the second was September solstice outside the shack, the third was three minutes later in the Veil chamber and the fourth was three minutes later outside the shack.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “What actually happened was three **_hours_** earlier, outside the shack.”

“I see.” Dumbledore nodded but Sirius was unsure whether or not he really understood. “And what do you plan to do now?”

Sirius snorted. “Look at me, Albus, actually look at me.” He ordered. Dumbledore did as Sirius directed and after a few seconds, he caught his breath in shock. “Yes, exactly. But here’s the thing. Sirius Black died tonight. And I’m thinking we can use that. Get Bucky and I, new identities and let us train Harry.”

“Bucky?” Dumbledore asked.

“That would be me.” A clearly American voice spoke out and Dumbledore spun, his wand spitting out a stunning spell, he’d forgotten about the other man.

“Really?!” Sirius exclaimed.

“Well, it’s not just Remus, is it?” The American man asked the room.

“Apparently not.” Remus responded.

“What just happened?” Dumbledore asked.

“Bucky seemed to be immune to any magic that’s not Sirius’.” Remus told the Headmaster.

“Immune?”

“It’s beginning to look that way.” Remus said, looking at Sirius and Bucky standing close together.

“I see.”

“I’m glad someone does, ‘cause I don’t.” Bucky huffed.

“Sirius, do you know the core defining charm?” Dumbledore asked the Animagus.

“Yes…?” Sirius frowned. “That’s one of the Greek-based charms, right? [Vasikós Orismós](core%20definition)?”

“That’s it.” Dumbledore nodded. “If you would cast it, please. It should give us an idea of what degree of immunity he has.”

Sirius looked to Bucky and the soldier nodded, so he cast the charm. “ _Vasikós Orismós_.” A nebulous shape fluttered into being in front of Bucky’s stomach. “Now what?”

“ _Vasikós Orismós_.” Dumbledore also cast but his wand was pointing at Sirius. Within a few moments a similarly nebulous shape formed in front of his stomach, too. “And that would be what I was looking for.” Dumbledore nodded.

“What?” Sirius looked from the shape in front of him to the one in front of Bucky and over to Dumbledore.

“They’re the same.” Bucky said.

“Exactly.” Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling. “Exactly. And that means that only Sirius’ magic can affect you. To anyone else’s, you are a Void.”

“A void?” Bucky asked.

“A Void is someone like yourself, who is immune to magic, however, they are usually immune to **_all_** magic, it just fails to affect them in **_any_** way.” Dumbledore answered. “I’ve only ever come across one other Partial Void, which is more likely what you are. It’s so rare.”

“Is it dangerous?” Sirius asked, concern filling his voice.

“No.” Dumbledore shook his head. “Not really. It just means that you are the only one who can cast magic on him and any potion that he takes will have to be made by you.”

“Good thing, I got on O in my Potions’ NEWT, then.” Sirius huffed.

“I’d say so.” Dumbledore laughed gently. “I’d also say that you appear to be significantly young than I know you are.”

“Yes.” Bucky nodded. “Remus did an age revealing charm and it showed Siri as being twenty-five, he lost eleven years returning here. I lost five years.”

“The Veil is a most magical item.” Dumbledore mused. “We know little about it. However, I would postulate that unless you were to enter the Veil again, your ages will not be affected any further than they already have.”

“In English?” Bucky tilted his head.

“It’s not likely to be reversible.” Dumbledore summarised.

“Huh.” Bucky grunted.

“New identities?” Dumbledore asked. “Did you have names you’d like to use?”

“I was thinking that I’d use Alphard as my father, keep the Black name and title.” Sirius said quietly. “Cyril Paddrick Black.”

“Yes…” Dumbledore mused. “That would work well.” He turned to Bucky. “And you, sir? Will you be using your existing name or choosing a new one?”

“A little of both.” Bucky answered. “I've been James Buchannan Barnes since I was christened but Bucky Barnes is a member of the Howling Commandos under the leadership of Captain America, my best friend and brother, Steve Rogers. I can’t risk some muggle raised kid recognising the name. So, we talked it over with a few advisors and came up with the idea of portraying me as the grandson of James Buchannan Barnes and named after him and Steve. Buchannan Steven James.”

“I have no idea of whether that will work or not.” Dumbledore tilted his head. “My knowledge of muggle history of the time is a little vague, we in the wizarding world were more concerned about Grindelwald, you understand?”

“I do.” Bucky nodded. “Which is why we hashed out as much as we could before we left.”

“I shall call Alastor and get him to see to the parchmentwork. And what of Harry?”

“We get to train him.” Bucky said firmly.

“He needs to return to his Aunt’s house.” Dumbledore started, only for Sirius to cut him off.

“No, that’s not safe.” Sirius explained. “Riddle, snakeface, whatever you want to call him. He took Harry’s blood in his resurrection, remember?”

“Yes, I recall Poppy having to treat the wound.” Dumbledore nodded.

“But that blood would mean that the blood wards on Privet Drive would see Riddle as an extension of Harry.” Sirius said. “It negates the purpose of your wards, completely.”

Dumbledore blinked in surprise, that had never even occurred to him, he’d been so focused on the wards protecting Harry, that he’d forgotten that Tom had taken his blood that night in the graveyard.

“Oh, dear.” Dumbledore whispered.

“Exactly.” Sirius nodded. “Now, we also plan not to tell anyone, other than a few trusted advisors, who I am.”

“Alastor, of course.” Dumbledore nodded. “Severus, I-”

“No, not Snape.”

“Sirius, you must put your differences aside. I trust him implicitly.” Dumbledore assured him.

“You might but I don’t.” Sirius argued. “And unless you are prepared to explain why you trust him, I won’t be. Especially given the way he’s treated Harry, since he arrived at Hogwarts.” Sirius wasn’t rude, he wasn’t abrupt, he was just stating a fact.

Dumbledore frowned. “I’m not sure that I can do that. It is an intensely personal subject.”

“Ask him.” Sirius said. “Just don’t tell him about me, I won’t give that permission until I know why you trust him. I have that right, Albus, and you know it.”

“Regardless…” Bucky said. “If Snape is still your spy in Riddle’s ranks, it’s better for him if he _**doesn’t**_ know about Siri, safer for _**him**_ if Riddle questions him. Riddle can do that mind-reading thing, right?”

“Occlumency, yes.” Dumbledore nodded. “And yes, I see what you mean. It would be safer for him and for you both, if he didn’t know of your survival. I also understand, now, your need to understand why I hold him in such regard. I shall speak with him sometime tomorrow.” He shook his head and corrected himself. “Sometime today. Dawn is fast approaching.”

“It is.” Bucky nodded. “And Harry?”

“I shall speak to him, as soon as I’ve spoken to Severus.” Dumbledore stated. “But I do believe that it would be wise to limit who is told. Mr Ron Weasley is a good and loyal friend, but he has his father’s temper and his mother’s inability to withhold information. Miss Granger, on the other hand, is loyal and is quite capable of keeping her mouth closed. Mr Longbottom is an up-and-coming wizard, he’s gained confidence following Harry, this last year. Miss Lovegood sees things in a unique way, but that didn’t stop her from following Harry into the Ministry. Other than them, I’d suggest Mr’s Fred and George Weasley, they are marvellous with their pranks, Miss Weasley is a powerful witch, seventh children often are. And Aurors Tonks and Shacklebolt.”

“Sirius?” Bucky asked.

“Harry, of course.” Sirius replied. “I’m hesitant about Ron and Ginny, I’ve heard some of Molly’s tales and love potions are frequently mentioned.”

“ _ **No?!”**_ Dumbledore gasped. “Surely not? You don’t think…?”

“I don’t know what to think.” Sirius shook his head. “What would you think? Hermione and Ron argue whenever the two of them are in the same room. And Ginny looks at Harry like he’s a feast and she’s starving of hunger. But to me, she always looks like she’s trying to hang on the edge of whatever group that Harry’s in.”

“Hmm…” Dumbledore hummed and thought about the few times he’d seen the children. “You might be right.”

“And the twins?” Sirius shrugged. “They’re working hard towards their shop. I can’t see that they’re going to have enough time to train with us.”

“We’re talking hours each day.” Bucky added.

“Then it might be best to leave omit them, as well.” Remus suggested. “Which leaves Harry, Hermione, Frank and Alice's lad, Neville and Pandi’s girl, Luna.”

“Pandi?” Sirius asked.

“She married Xenophilius Lovegood, remember?”

“Oh, yeah… I forgot that.” Sirius turned to Dumbledore. “Can you get permission from their families? Augusta is formidable witch, she might not be agreeable. Pandi and Xeno should be fine.”

“Pandora Lovegood was killed in a spell-creation accident in April 1990.” Dumbledore told Sirius.

“Ah, is that likely to make Xeno stop Luna?” Sirius asked.

“It shouldn’t.” Dumbledore frowned. “I think I might go and speak to him personally, instead of sending a request.” He paused in thought. “Same with Augusta, too, I think.”

“And the Grangers, too.” Remus said. “Only courteous, Albus.”

Dumbledore sighed. “Yes, I suppose it is.” He nodded. “I’ll speak to the families and see to permissions, Alastor will see to your parchmentwork and getting underage exemptions for the four children. The Express leaves Hogsmeade in a few days, I’d like to have all this settled by then, but I’d prefer not to tell the children of your survival until then. If I have their families’ permission, I’ll have the children met at King’s Cross by Remus, Alastor, Nymphadora and Kingsley and brought to you location. Do you have somewhere in mind?”

“Uncle Alphard’s island in the Irish Sea.” Sirius replied. “It’s unplottable and has been under [_fidelius_](Secret%20keeping%20charm\)) since before I started Hogwarts.”

“You **_father’s_** island?” Dumbledore put heavy emphasis on the ‘father’. “Might I ask, who is the Secret Keeper?”

“I am.” Sirius replied. “I’ve been the keeper since fifth year. Alph- **_Father_** insisted.” He corrected himself. “I can make the portkeys and issue Moody with a copy of the secret.”

“Excellent.” Dumbledore beamed. “I’ll send Alastor a Patronus and get him to meet me in my office, first thing this morning. Then I’ll speak to Severus. After that, I’ll pop out and see Mr Lovegood, Lady Longbottom and the Grangers. Hmm… Should I tell Petunia that Harry shan’t be returning to them?”

“I would. Given them some warning of the wards coming down.” Remus said.

“Yes, I suppose I should. After that, I’ll speak to Harry and whichever of children I have permissions for.” He looked at the three men. “Remus, I suggest that you very briefly return to Grimmauld Place, pack up your things and join Cyril and… will you still go by Bucky?” The last question was directed to Bucky, who nodded. “Very good. The Express heads for London on Saturday, we have a lot to do and little time to do it in, gentlemen. I suggest we get what sleep we can, in what remains of tonight, for the next few days are going to be rather busy.”


	6. Chapter 6

_“Excellent.” Dumbledore beamed. “I’ll send Alastor a Patronus and get him to meet me in my office, first thing this morning. Then I’ll speak to Severus. After that, I’ll pop out and see Mr Lovegood, Lady Longbottom and the Grangers. Hmm… Should I tell Petunia that Harry shan’t be returning to them?”_

_“I would. Given them some warning of the wards coming down.” Remus said._

_“Yes, I suppose I should. After that, I’ll speak to Harry and whichever of children I have permissions for.” He looked at the three men. “Remus, I suggest that you very briefly return to Grimmauld Place, pack up your things and join Cyril and… will you still go by Bucky?” The last question was directed to Bucky, who nodded. “Very good. The Express heads for London on Saturday, we have a lot to do and little time to do it in, gentlemen. I suggest we get what sleep we can, in what remains of tonight, for the next few days are going to be rather busy.”_

Harry and Hermione watched as Molly Weasley gathered up her children and chivvied them in the direction of the public floo-fireplaces before turning to look for Remus Lupin and Mad-Eye Moody. Since a day after the trip to the DoM and a private interview with Dumbledore, their mother and someone from the DMLE, Ron and Ginny had been avoiding Harry and Hermione. Thankfully, Madam Bones saw fit to tell them why. Molly and her children had been reminded that love potions like _amortentia_ are illegal and will net both the maker and the dispenser a nice long stay in Azkaban. And that if a person were to sign any magical contract, say a marriage or betrothal contract, under the influence of such potions, the contract would flare and **_not_** be considered valid, and that the influenced person would have to be treated with purging potions which would remove any traces of **_any_** potion from their system.

Whether Ginny and Ron were involved in the conception of the plan to marry Ginny to Harry and Ron to Hermione, or not, made no difference, not at this point. They’d been involved in the ongoing planning and had small phials of the potion in their luggage, that was sufficient for the DMLE to act. Ron would be forfeiting his NEWTs, his grades were low and the DMLE saw little reason to delay his sentence, he would be joining the Auror academy, where he would remain a trainee for the next ten years. Ginny, on the other hand, had good marks and it was suggested that she return to Hogwarts for her OWLs and possibly her NEWTs, depending on her OWL results. She would no longer be a member of Gryffindor but would be housed in separate accommodation, she would be under heavy restrictions and only be permitted to attend classes with the other students, the rest of her time, she would be remanded to her rooms. Molly was incredibly lucky, in that when the DMLE searched the Burrow and found traces of the potion, they were unable to definitively pinpoint her as the only brewer. The traces of her magic were there but so was someone else’s and while initially, Arthur was questioned, he was quickly discarded as a suspect after a magical scan, leaving the DMLE still on the hunt for Molly’s accomplice.

“Are you sure your parents are okay with this?” Harry asked Hermione.

“Yes, Harry.” She sighed, he’d asked a dozen times since the Headmaster had told them. “I love my parents and they love me, they just aren’t keen on me being a witch. It’s turning out to be a bit too dangerous for their liking.”

“But they’re still going to let you learn to fight?” Harry wanted to know.

“Oh, yes.” Hermione nodded. “Daddy was in the army, when he was younger and he said that while he still wasn’t happy about how dangerous the wizarding world was, me getting training in how to defend myself, actually lessened his concern. He’ll always worry, but he knows how stubborn I am and that I can’t leave the wizarding world until I finish my schooling. So, as far as he is concerned, me knowing how to fight and defend myself is a good thing."

“Oh, okay…” Harry nodded and stopped. “There’s Remus.” He pointed off to one side.

“Good. Let’s go.” Hermione grabbed Harry’s hand and headed in the direction that he’d pointed.

“Hi, Remus.” Harry gave his honorary Uncle a sad smile.

“Hello Harry, Hermione.” Remus gave them a tired smile. “Where’s Neville and Luna?”

“They went to fetch Luna’s trunks, she didn’t get a chance to shrink them before the elves put them on the train.” Hermione answered.

“They were going to ask a seventh year to do it for her, now.” Harry added.

“Here they come.” Moody told them without turning in the direction of the luggage carriage.

“Oh, good. It wouldn’t do to be late.” Remus smirked. “We’re going to the home of an amazing man.”

“You just like him because he can shut the other one up.” Moody muttered.

“Of course, I do.” Remus replied, keeping his voice bland.

“Humph…” Moody grunted.

“Do we want to know?” Neville asked as he and Luna joined them.

“No.” Moody rumbled. “Read this.” He thrust a small piece of parchment at Harry. “All of you.”

**_The Marauders’ Training Ground is on Freedom Island in the Irish Sea._ **

“Uh…” Neville exclaimed in confusion.

“[ _Fidelius_](Secret%20keeping%20charm).” Was all Harry needed to say, for Neville’s face to clear.

“Got it.” The other boy nodded sharply.

“Everyone take hold of the rope.” Remus instructed and once Moody and the four teens did so, he activated the portkey.

“I hate portkeys.” Harry said as he crashed to the ground.

 ** _“Pup!”_** A barked yell startled Harry enough to look up.

“Si-Sirius…?” He whispered and stood dumbfounded as he was enveloped in Sirius’ arms.

“And that’s one of the surprises Dumbledore told you about.” Remus said to the three other teens. “The Veil didn’t like the way he tasted, so it spat him back out.”

“It **_what?!”_** Hermione squawked.

“It spat him out, again.” Remus said as he watched the reunion between godfather and godson. “It just didn’t do it in the same place. Or at the same time.” He went on. “As you can see, he looks a lot younger, that is a result of him making the Veil send him back here.”

“Back here?” Hermione asked.

“Initially, he was sent to Germany.” Remus replied. “Germany in 1945.” Hermione gasped in shock. “Yes. He spent nearly two years in that time, before he forced the Veil to return him, here, to this time. He was spat out, outside the Shrieking Shack, about eleven pm, the same night as he went into the Veil.”

“But… but he didn’t **_arrive_** in the DoM until after one-thirty in the morning.” Hermione objected.

“I know.” Remus sighed. “Technically, he was back before even left.”

“ ** _Oi, Bucky!”_** Sirius yelled over his shoulder, to the house behind him. “ ** _Bucky!_** Come meet the pups.”

“Pup?” Neville asked.

“I am **_not_** a pup.” Hermione glared at Sirius, only to gasp as a tall dark-haired man left the house and walked towards them. “Bucky? Bucky… Barnes…?” She whispered.

“They’re not pups, Siri.” The man shook his head. “They’re too old for pups. They might not be wolves, yet, but they’re not pups, anymore.”

“Harry will always be my pup.” Sirius argued.

“Er… Hello?” Harry looked at the newcomer.

“Hey, kid.” The man said. “I’m Bucky and when this idiot stops being an idiot, he might introduce us, properly.”

“Are you Bucky Barnes?” Hermione asked and when he nodded cautiously, she went on. “I did an essay on your disappearance, at primary school. It’s documented that you returned from Europe and joined the SSR, then a year and a half later, you closed down your army pay account and just… vanished.”

“Yep, that’s pretty much what happened.” Bucky said. “My last mission with the Howlies, I fell from a train in the alps, the Veil tossed Sirius out, pretty much above the train and luckily he had an old broom in his pocket-”

“Undetectable Expansion Charm?” Hermione cut in.

“Nah, shrunken broom.” Bucky corrected. “Anyway, he caught me before I hit the ground, but the broom couldn’t take the abuse and fell apart. We landed in a river and I got a pretty good concussion. Sirius pulled me out and did a point-me to our base. We had to walk for nearly three days to reach it.”

“He couldn’t have apparated you, if you had a concussion.” Hermione nodded.

“Yeah.” Bucky nodded with her. “We arrived back just hours after Steve killed Schmidt and Germany surrendered. Only to be told that Steve had crashed Schmidt’s plane into the ocean somewhere.”

“He was your friend?” Hermione asked quietly. “The Captain?”

“He was like my brother.” Bucky whispered.

“I’m sorry for your loss…” Hermione’s voice was even quieter.

“Thanks.” Bucky gave her a small smile.

“And that’s why you came with Sirius or was that an accident?” Neville asked.

“Oh, no. No accident, there.” Bucky objected. “I wasn’t letting him get away from me.”

“That’s why Dumbledore suggested that each of you bring a set of formal robes.” Remus added. “These two are getting married, tomorrow.”

“Married?” Harry looked from Sirius to Bucky. “Really? You want to marry **_him?”_** Harry pointed at Sirius.

“Yep.” Bucky grinned. “And seeing as how he’s still being an idiot, how’s about you introducing your friends?”

“Sure.” Harry blinked at the change in subject. “This is Hermione, she’s been my best friend since I started Hogwarts. Neville shares a dorm with me and Luna came to the DoM with us. They’ve worked hard this year in the D.A., Neville’s come a long way and Luna’s been doing great.” Harry gestured to each teen as he spoke.

“Good to hear.” Moody said. “Come Monday, Tonks will take you to the wandier in Dublin, for a set of custom wands.” He saw each teen grasp their wands tighter. “Nothing against what you’ve already got but yer need more than one wand. The wandier will test your wand against yer core and depending on compatibility and access levels, you’ll get at least one, possibly two or even three wands custom-made.”

“We’re going to work you hard over the summer.” Remus agreed. “Having backup wands is always good.”

“In addition to wand-work, I’ll be teaching all four of you how to fight, muggle style.” Bucky said. “Not just fight but fight dirty. Street fighting, knife fighting, hand to hand and the little bit of martial arts I-” he cut himself off and frowned into space.

“What is it?” Remus asked.

“Martial Arts.” Bucky mused. “Morita was good at that. What are the chances that we can see if he’s still alive and if he can teach them that?”

“You want the Howling Commandos to train us?” Hermione was almost bouncing with excitement. “Oh, yes! Please? Pretty, pretty please?” She begged.

“It would make things a bit easier, having some help.” Bucky shrugged. “But I don’t know who’s still alive, it’s been fifty years since I saw them last.”

“James Morita, James Falsworth and Timothy Dugan are still alive.” Hermione was quick to answer. “Samuel Juniper Jnr died in 1946, Gabe Jones died in 1954 , Jacques Dernier in 1979, Percival Pinkerton in 1987 and Sam Sawyer in 1992.”

“What about Chester Phillips, Peggy Carter and Howard Stark?” Bucky asked.

“Colonel Chester Phillips died in 1970, on the training field yelling at an unnamed private. Howard Stark died in in a motor vehicle accident in 1991.”

“And Carter?” Bucky wasn’t sure he wanted to know. 

“Margaret Carter is still alive, she only retired from S.H.I.E.L.D last year.” Hermione said. “Apparently she returned to England to retire, but that’s been kept very quiet.”

“I have an address.” Bucky said. “She and Howard both told me to come visit them, but…”

“Howard’s gone.” Hermione said quietly.

“Yeah.” Bucky nodded. “But if Carter’s still alive, she’ll have a way to contact the Howlies.”

“I can take you.” Tonks said, she’d been leaning against the house for most of the conversation. “Sirius won’t really blend in, in the muggle world. You’re not too bad. Let me change your coat and we can go.”

“Better get Sirius to do that.” Remus warned. “Bucky’s a Partial Void. So far, only Sirius’ magic works on him.”

“Uh, okay.” The pink-haired woman blinked.

Half an hour later, Bucky pressed a button beside a large gate.

“Yes?” A disembodied voice asked.

“Looking for Peg Carter?” Bucky said. “I was told that this was the address and I was to give a password.”

“A password? Please hold.” The speaker clicked and went dead for nearly a minute. When it crackled back to life the voice was quite different. “You mentioned a password. What is it?” The female voice asked.

“The Veil. 18th December 1946. 2:15 am.” Bucky said.

“That is… correct.” The gate unlocked and began to slide open. “Please wait inside the gate, a vehicle will be with you shortly.

“Yes, ma'am.” Bucky replied and once the gate was open far enough, he stepped through and encouraged Tonks to join him.

“I have could just apparated us to the house.” She said.

“Muggles.” Bucky said. “And you have a statute about using magic in front of them.”

“What are you, then, if you’re not a muggle?” Tonks asked.

“I’m a Partial Void and the betrothed of a scion of an Ancient and Noble House.” He replied. “As a Void, even a partial one, the statute doesn’t apply to me, or so Dumbledore said.”

“Oh.” Tonks grunted. “I didn’t know that.”

“Now you do.” Barnes gave her a sideways look of amusement.

“Shuddup…” She muttered.

A strange little vehicle came around the tree-line and down the drive, before coming to a halt beside Bucky.

“Barnes.” Peggy Carter nodded to him. “I take it worked.”

“Pretty much.” Bucky nodded. “A few minor changes, though.” 

“Oh?”

“Sirius and I are both twenty-five, now.” He grimaced. “The Veil altered our physical ages. I lost nearly five years but Sirius lost eleven.”

“Ah.” The older woman acknowledged. “Well, get in. we can go back to the house and talk.”

“I’m kinda on a deadline, here, Peg.” Bucky warned. “I’m hoping that you have a way to contact the Howlies. The kids need training and Morita was the best at hand to hand.”

“He’s already here.” Peggy replied. “So are Falsworth and Dugan. We meet up, every year and as I knew you were hoping that the Veil would send you to Scotland or England sometime this year, I agreed to host the boys.”

“Fabulous.” Bucky grinned. “Now all we have to do is tell them about magic and convince them to help out.”

His grin made both Tonks and Carter groan.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sonorous charm = volume increasing charm

_“I’m kinda on a deadline, here, Peg.” Bucky warned. “I’m hoping that you have a way to contact the Howlies. The kids need training and Morita was the best at hand to hand.”_

_“He’s already here.” Peggy replied. “So are Falsworth and Dugan. We meet up, every year and as I knew you were hoping that the Veil would send you to Scotland or England sometime this year, I agreed to host the boys.”_

_“Fabulous.” Bucky grinned. “Now all we have to do is tell them about magic and convince them to help out.”_

_His grin made both Tonks and Carter groan._

The three Howling Commandos looked around in excitement as the portkey landed them in a lush garden.

“We’re really somewhere else…” Dum-dum grinned.

“Hey, Dum-dum!” A long-forgotten voice called.

The three men spun around and saw a familiar face.

“Black.” Dum-dum laughed. “So, you’re a wizard, huh?”

“Yep.” Sirius nodded.

“And the kids are, too?” Morita asked cautiously.

“They are.” Sirius pointed off to one side. “They’re over there.”

The old soldiers looked where Sirius pointed and saw a tall black man putting four teens through a series of spellcasting drills. Lights of different colours left their wands and impacted on a quartet of timber dummies.

“The darker girl and the larger lad need to work on their aim.” Falsworth offered.

“Will you work up a training schedule for us?” Bucky knew that Falsworth had been in charge of the Howlies’ scheduling.

“I can do that, but I’ll need a better idea of what each of us are doing. What we’re going to be teaching them.”

“I can help with that.” Moody grunted as he and the others joined them.

“Hi.” Harry said. “Thanks for coming and agreeing to help us.”

“You might be thanking us now, but that won’t last long.” Morita warned.

Harry grinned. “Why do you think I’m saying it now?”

Sirius barked a laugh as Hermione reached out a smacked Harry’s arm. “Behave.”

“Laugh while you can, you won’t have the energy from tomorrow, onwards.” Falsworth told them.

“Not tomorrow.” Bucky said. “Tomorrow, Sirius and I are getting married.”

“Married?” Dum-dum asked. “You really want to marry him?” He asked Sirius.

“Oh, yes.” Sirius nodded.

“I’ve been told that I have to go and get Director Carter, she wants be here.” Tonks said.

“I don’t see a problem with that.” Sirius nodded. “It’s not like she’ll know where we are or be able to get back here. Muggle tracking devices will be knocked out by the portkey before she even leaves home.”

Moody squinted and huffed but finally nodded.

“The only issue I have with assisting in the training of the youngsters,” James Falsworth said in an accent very similar to Sirius’, “is that Dum-dum, Morita and I are old men, now. Of the three of us, I’m the youngest and I turned eighty-three last month. Morita’s two years older and Dum-dum is almost ninety. If Barnes hadn’t gone with Black, even he’d be in his late seventies. We’re not kids. anymore.”

“I can show them most of the moves, but some are just beyond me, now. Arthritis is a bitch.” Morita added.

“You saw me walking.” Dum-dum said. “I’m going to need a hip replacement soon. I can tell them what to do, but I can’t show them.”

Moody growled, they’d been so close to having decent tutors for the kids.

Sirius was looking at Bucky, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“What? What’re you thinking?” Bucky asked.

“I lost eleven years coming through the Veil.” He replied. “You lost nearly five.” He turned to Moody. “Do de-aging potions work on muggles?”

Moody’s smile was a frightening thing. “They do. As does skele-gro, pepper-up, blood replenisher, most nerve- and musculo-regens, invigorating draught and all of the amortentia family.”

“How long does a de-aging potion last on them.” Remus asked. “Most magicals burn through it in a matter of hours to a few days, at most.”

“For muggles it tends to last months, not days.” Moody answered. “And it reverses itself in stages, if given a booster during one of these stages, it can last for a year or more. The downside is, when it wears off, completely, the muggle can’t use it again for a full moon cycle.”

“If we’re going to do something like that,” Falsworth said, “we’re going to need a medic.”

“School’s out.” Harry grinned. “Do you think Dumbledore would lend us Madam Pomfrey?”

“Nah, lad.” Moody shook his head. “Pomfrey’s only worked on kids for the last twenty plus years.”

“And I doubt she’s ever had cause to work on muggles.” Sirius added.

“What about mum?” Tonks asked. “She’s got her healer’s badges and is also familiar with muggles, she works in our local hospital during emergencies. They think that she’s a specialist from Leeds.”

“And she’s worked with both the Order and the DMLE before,” Kingsley said, “getting her to take an oath before she’s given too many details, isn’t all that unusual.”

“Plus, the apothecaries are used to her getting muggle-friendly variants of the healing potions, so getting them shouldn’t be an issue.” Moody nodded.

“Shall I go and ask her?” Tonks asked.

“Yes.” Moody nodded again.” I’ll go with you and get her oath before we come back here. Black? See to rooms for everyone and put aside a couple extras, they might not stay but have a room for them just in case.” He turned to Tonks. “Come on, Missy, let’s go.” He waited until she nodded before apparating away.

“If we’re looking at bringing in some others?” Harry asked. “Can we get someone that can teach us how to use a sword or daggers or something?”

Sirius and Kingsley shared a hurried and almost silent conversation.

“The only one that we know of that can teach you properly, is Flitwick.” Sirius warned. “Are you sure you’d be okay with that?”

“Flitwick’s fine.” Harry nodded after exchanging glances with Hermione, Neville and Luna. “He’s also a Duelling Master. The height might be a concern, though.”

“Transfiguration.” Sirius said. “As long as he stays to scale, increasing his size is not going to affect his abilities.”

“Wicked.” Harry grinned.

“Are we going to have time to study everything?” Hermione wanted to know.

“You’ll be fine.” Falstworth said. “We’ll target each session to match your current ability and most sessions will be one-on-one. That means that you don’t need to be hesitant or embarrassed by your friends, you don’t have to push yourself to keep up with someone else, nor will you be held back by someone else.”

“No studying at the level of the lowest student, you’ll all study at your own pace and each subject will be altered to get the most out of you.” Morita went on. “As we progress, you may be told to drop a subject, you may be given new ones, or you may be told to specialise in a particular weapon or skill. Until we know what you are capable of, right now, we can’t do that.”

“The first week with be mostly test you.” Falsworth warned. “Then the hard work will begin.”

“And this island also has a limited time dilation capacity.” Sirius said. “Limited in that, one week is stretched to four, but then it takes a week to recharge the rune crystals.”

“How long will that net us?” Falsworth had been given too much information for him to do the math.

“Summer holidays are eight weeks” Sirius answered. “We’d be able to use the time dilation crystals four times, turning four weeks into four months, then there’s the four weeks that are needed to charge the crystals. All up, we’d have nearly five months, twenty weeks to be exact.”

“How does that work, Sirius?” Hermione asked.

“It slows down the effects of time within the area set out by runestones linked to the time crystal. People can still apparate in and out, they’ll just be dizzy for a bit on incoming, outgoing to normal. Portkeys won’t work, the time connection clashes with the charm sequence used to create them.”

“Can we learn to apparate?” Neville asked, he wasn’t as hesitant to put himself forward as he had been before joining the D.A.

“Flitwick’s licenced to train and register you for that.” Kingsley said. “Should Remus ask him, or should I?”

Sirius bit his lip as he thought. “Probably better for it to come from Remus, we don’t want to hint at anything official. Tell him to speak to Dumbledore if he has any queries.”

“Why not ask him to meet you in Dumbledore’s office?” Luna said. “That way Professor Dumbledore can provide assurances that what we’re doing is for the war effort and that he knows and approves.”

Remus and Kingsley both nodded.

“I’ll give you a copy of the Secret to show him.” Sirius said and headed for the house. “Oh, hey, come one in. I got a pair of elves from Hogwarts, Dobby and Winky. Dumbledore said you’d know who I meant. Winky insisted on being bound, her health was too fragile not to.” Sirius paused in a doorway, as he saw the distaste on Hermione’s face. “Did you know that without being bound to a family or somewhere with a large influx magical of people, elves die? They use the bond to control their magic, without the bond their magic gets unstable and wild and will eventually shatter and kill them.” Hermione gasped in horror. “Which is why Hogwarts takes in any elf that turns up there. Dobby, however, he’s different, the abuse that the Malfoys dished out on him, caused an abnormal alteration in his magic. Dobby doesn’t need a family bond, he’s converted it to a friendship bond, that lets him work for whomever he wants and he can be paid for it, all without negating his bond to Harry.” He entered a large and bright office and crossed to a desk, opening draws and pulling out parchment.

“Me?” Harry asked.

“You.” Sirius nodded. “He used your freeing him from the Malfoys to initiate a bond. He had to alter the bond as only a Head of House can offer a bond and while you are the last Potter, you can’t take your Head of House position until you are seventeen.” He wrote as he spoke.

“Head of House?”

Sirius frowned at Harry. “Surely Dumbledore explained this to you?”

“Nope, never said a word.” Harry shook his head. “I know nothing about the Potter family. I didn’t see a picture of mum and dad until the end of first year, when Hagrid gave me a photo album. I still don’t know where they lived or what they did for a living or anything else, other than I look like dad but with mum’s eyes.”

Sirius groaned. “Bloody hell, Albus…” He turned to Remus. “Tell Albus that I need to have a word with him. And it bloody well better be today.” He held out a slip of parchment to Remus.

“Will do.” The werewolf took the parchment and headed for the apparition point.

An hour later Tonks and Moody returned with a woman that Harry assumed to be Tonks’ mother, who was introduced as Andromeda Tonks, nee Black. Sirius said she was the sane sister of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, who’d run away from home at sixteen and married a muggleborn called Ted Tonks.

Andi, as she insisted on being called, took the three Howlies and after giving them general health scans, said that they would be fine to use de-aging potions, that the potions would actually increase their overall health even after the potion wore off.

As she was dosing Morita, Dum-dum had an interesting suggestion.

“We should do this to Peggy, she can teach the girls to fight, too. How to bring down man and keep him down. You said it might help with other health problems? She’s forgetting things.”

“We can correct that.” Andi said. “Alzheimer’s and dementia can be pre-treated against.”

“I’ll go ask her.” Tonks said and ran out the door.

She was back inside half an hour with Peggy and a suitcase of clothing.

“Do you really think this will work?” Peggy asked, clearly nervous.

“Oh, yes.” Andi replied. “We’ve a fair number of cases we’ve used it on. In many cases we only de-aged a person by a few days, but we do have documented cases of de-aging muggles and magicals by years and even decades.”

“Auror Tonks said that it wears off, after a limited time?”

“It does.” Andi nodded. “Magicals burn through the potion in a matter of days, if not hours. Muggles, however…? It can last for months and if a booster is given at the correct time, a year or more.”

“Is there a permanent version?” Peggy asked, tilting her head, to look at Bucky.

“There is, but it’s only used in very rare cases.” Andi said. “Usually when someone has received a traumatic head injury.”

“Um… excuse me?” Neville raised a hand. “Why wasn’t something like that used on my parents?”

Andi blinked and blinked again before frowning. “I… don’t… know…” She mused.

“If Gran okays it, can we bring them here and try it?” Neville asked. “Dad was an Auror, too. That would give us two Aurors, if Moody, Tonks and Kingsley had to go back to the Ministry.”

“I’ll speak to… who’s their primary healer?” Andi asked.

“Miriam Strout is in charge of the whole ward, but Kyle Ambrose is their main healer.” Neville answered. “He has been, since they were first admitted.”

“Ah, that explains a lot.” Andi sighed.

“It does?” Hermione asked.

“Ambrose is a long-term care specialist not a trauma healer, neither is Strout.” Andi explained. “I’ll go and talk to Augusta and we’ll see what we can do. But… Not until you four are stable.”

“Very well.” Peggy nodded. “Where do you want me and should I change first?”

Four hours later Andi sighed and sat back. “Well, it seems we have a problem, Miss Carter, gentlemen.”

“And that problem is?” Peggy asked, her throat still raw from screaming.

“You aren’t a muggle, you’re a squib.” Andi said. “And that changes how your body reacts to the potion.” She sighed. “I’m sorry… The changes were a little more extreme than expected and are… permanent…”

“Meaning…?” Peggy’s face was hard and set.

“You’re ten years old.” Andi said. “And we have no way of reversing it. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to grow up like any other ten-year-old.”

“I’m…” Peggy snarled, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. For a few minutes that’s all she did. When she opened her eyes, she spoke. “I will need to speak to the current director of S.H.I.E.L.D, he will need to be made aware of my age alteration. And I will need someone that is, on paper at least, my guardian.”

Everyone turned to look at Bucky.

“Me?” His eyes widened in shock. “Why are you looking at me?”

“It can’t be one of us.” Morita said. “Dum-dum and I are American and Peggy’s English. Plus once the de-aging potions wear off, we’ll be back to being old men. You’ve been permanently de-aged. And you’re marrying a wealthy wizard, you keeping the squib child of a deceased friend, will be a one-day wonder, then it’ll be forgotten. Us? Not possible. You? How else are you going to get kids?”

“I am not a child.” Peggy snapped.

“No, you’re not, but only those of us here, know that.” Morita reminded her.

“Dammit.” Bucky muttered.

“Bugger.” Peggy swore at the same time.

The following morning shone bright and clear, not a cloud in the sky and as the island lay between the English west coast and the Irish east coast, the weather was liable to change at any time. But right now, it was a beautiful summer’s day and it was time for a wedding or the magical version, thereof.

Albus Dumbledore stood in beside a delicate table and took a deep breath.

“Wait!” Sirius said.

“What now?” Dumbledore muttered, forgetting that he’d cast a minor [_sonorous_](volume%20increasing%20charm) charm on himself, earning him a laugh from Harry and Neville.

“We can’t do this without McGonagall.” Sirius whined. “I thought I could but… I can’t.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> verto = switching spell

_“Wait!” Sirius said._

_“What now?” Dumbledore muttered, forgetting that he’d cast a minor sonorous charm ( **volume increasing charm** ) on himself, earning him a laugh from Harry and Neville._

_“We can’t do this without McGonagall.” Sirius whined. “I thought I could but… I can’t.”_

Minerva McGonagall accepted the message from Fawkes the phoenix and sighed, Albus had some other mad, rash plan for the order.

Opening the note she frowned. “One of my lions is getting married?” She tilted her head in thought. “I wonder which… And they want me there? Now?! Today?!” Fawkes trilled in agreement. “Well, I had better get changed, hadn’t I?” She opened her wardrobe and found an outfit suitable for an outdoor summer wedding and held it up. “That will do fine.” A flick of her wand and a quietly whispered ‘ _[verto](switching%20spell)’_ and she was ready to go. “I’ll just have to send them a gift later.” She told Fawkes, who trilled again and rose into the air, he settled on McGonagall’s shoulder and with a cheery whistle, flamed them away.

They landed in a lush garden, bright summer flowers dotted about the rich green foliage.

“Professor!” Harry Potter’s voice came from behind her and she hurriedly turned around, with Potter were Granger, Longbottom and the Lovegood girl, as well as a few members of the Order. “This way Professor, we have a seat for you, right here.” She was gently manoeuvred into a chair that was much the same as she used in her office.

“Thank you, Potter.” She nodded to the teen.

“No worries, Professor. Enjoy the show.” He was almost laughing.

“Lovely.” Albus’ voice reached her and she looked in its direction, spotting her employer standing in front of the spectators with two unknown men, one with his back to her and one facing her. She studied the man but there was nothing about him that was familiar. “Now that Professor McGonagall has joined us, we shall start…”

Ten minutes later, she figuratively leant down and picked up her jaw off the floor and approached the grooms.

“Mr’s Black.” She gave one of the men a soft smile while the other got a hard glare. “Congratulations. Although…” She raised a brow to man who would now be known as Buchannan Black. “Why on earth you would choose this reprobate as your husband, I just do **_not_** know.”

Sirius whined and Bucky laughed. “Harry said that you’d say something like that. But… in all honesty, I haven’t found him to be nearly as bad as everyone says he should have been.”

“Really…” McGonagall said blandly.

“Yeah.” Bucky nodded. “After listening to a lot of people say the same thing, we put together a series of memories, in a pensieve of course, for the doubters to watch. Even Moody says that Siri grew up.”

“I would like to see these memories.” McGonagall said. “Not that I doubt either of you, just that I want to see more of the two of you together. Marriage is a large step and with Sirius being on the run from the Ministry for the last couple of years, finding time to be together must have been difficult. **_Especially_** , as he was **_supposed_** to be under lock and key in London.” The last sentence was directed, not at Sirius, but at Remus Lupin.

“Oh, it’s way more complicated than that.” Sirius laughed. “Come on, and I’ll get you set up with the pensieve, when you’ve watched that, you’ll have a better understanding.” He lead her into a solid looking house and through to a neat office. “When you’re ready, just come through there.” He pointed to a door that she could see opened into a large sunroom.

“I shall.” She nodded and approached the pensieve that sat on a desk in the middle room.

When she emerged, however long later. She stood there for a few moments before sighing and going in search of her lions.

Spotting the pair talking to Harry and Tonks, she gestured for Harry, Tonks and Bucky to not acknowledge her presence and quietly eased up behind Sirius.

“Fifty points from Gryffindor, Mr Black.” She snapped, after winking at the other three.

Sirius spun in place and squawked, _**“Fifty!**_ ” Before he remembered he wasn’t a student anymore. “Don’t **_do_** that to me, Professor…” He whined.

Bucky laughed and pulled Sirius back against his chest. “I like her, can we keep her?”

“You like everyone that gives me a hard time.” Sirius muttered.

“Of course, I do.” Bucky grinned. “It means you come sulking to me, for cuddles.”

“Oh.” Sirius blinked in surprise.

“The more people tease you, the more cuddles I get.” The American explained, resting his cheek against Sirius’ hair.

“That will only work up to a certain point.” Remus warned as he joined them. “Once he hits the limit, he starts pranking.”

“Oh, I **_know_** …” Bucky nodded vehemently. “Howard used to tease him. A lot. **_Used_** to. Until Siri turned **_all_** his clothes pink and yellow. Right down to his underwear. After that he was a little better. Siri only had to remind him a few times before he got the message. Teasing is okay but only in moderation.”

“Colour change jinxes are easy,” Remus shrugged, “they require little power and can be set to expire at a certain time. They can also be tied to a person and to a type of item, so that every time the person touches that type of item, it changes to the set colour.”

“Yes.” Bucky grinned. “Siri explained.”

“Mr Potter?” McGonagall asked.

“Yes, Professor?” Harry replied.

“I wouldn’t have expected to see you here.”

“Ah…” Sirius grimaced. “I reminded Albus that Riddle took Harry’s blood to use in his… resurrection…”

“Yes…” McGonagall pursed her lips.

“That would mean, as far as blood wards are concerned, that Riddle is a part of Harry.” Sirius explained. “It would negate the ward Albus put around the Dursleys’ home.”

“Oh, my…” McGonagall gasped.

“Which means that Riddle could just walk right in, anytime he felt like it and take Harry away.” Sirius growled. “Not happening. Not on my watch.”

“No.” Remus nodded. “Which is why we are here. This island belonged to Alphard Black, who according to the blood adoption potions that Alphard left in his vault, is now Sirius’ father. It’s been under _fidelius_ since before we started Hogwarts, with Sirius as the Secret Keeper. So, we decided to take advantage of it and…” for the next ten minutes Remus explained what was planned for Harry and his friends.

“I see…” McGonagall nodded.

“Albus has finally agreed to explain exactly what is going on and why it has to be this way.” Sirius added. “He says, he’ll answer any and all questions we have, but only if we agree to keep it among ourselves.”

“He’s going to ask Professor Flitwick if he’ll come and teach us some sword and knife fighting.” Harry said. “But he’s not going be told everything, just that it’s for the war. Nothing else.”

“I’d like to know exactly what you’re going to be taught, Mr Potter.” McGonagall requested. “As your head of house, it might be wise to be aware of your capabilities. The last thing I need is you turning Mr Malfoy into a ferret as imposter-Moody did in your fourth year.”

“That was wicked.” Harry grinned. “He totally deserved it.”

“He might have, but regardless of whether or not he was actually Alastor Moody, Bartemius Crouch jnr, was portraying a Professor and should have had a more professional attitude.” McGonagall said sternly. “If I hear of you, or your… compatriots doing anything similar…” She left the threat hanging.

“Not until we finish school, Professor.” Harry assured the witch.

“That is not what I meant, Potter.” She huffed.

“I know.” He grinned, causing Sirius to laugh.

“You remind me of your mother, sometimes, Potter.” McGonagall shook her head fondly. “She could always talk her way out of detentions, mostly by using what we’d said, against us.” She blinked a few times and regained her stern demeanour. “Now, I need a word with Mr Falsworth. Please excuse me.” She gave them a head bow and left, in search of the Howling Commando.

“Mr Falsworth.” McGonagall finally cornered the man near the drinks table.

“Ah…?”

“James Montgomery Falstworth, I believe.” Minerva McGonagall raised a brow as she spoke.

“Miss McGonagall?” Falsworth blinked in recognition at his neighbour's daughter.

“Indeed, Mr Falsworth.” McGonagall nodded. “How did you get mixed up with this lot? I remember you coming home from the war and other than Remembrance Day, you’ve been living a very quiet life. Malcolm and Robert were ever so disappointed that you refused to teach them to fight. What changed?”

“Ah… Well…”

“Mr Falsworth.” McGonagall simply stared at him.

“We’re old men, now. And-”

“You certainly don’t look it.” McGonagall cut him off.

“This?” He gestured to his body. “This is potion induced and while it will last for a few months, it’s not permanent for us, like it is for Peggy. The four of us are the last of the Howling Commandos, when we die… There’ll be no-one left, other than Barnes. No-one that was there, no-one that will remember us, the way **_we_** want to be remembered.”

“And what, may I ask, brought this on?”

“Barnes.” Falsworth answered. “Like the public, we never knew what happened to him or Black, they just vanished. Only Phillips, Stark and Peggy knew and Peggy is the only one of them still with us.”

“I see.” McGonagall nodded fractionally. “I wish to see your training schedule.” It was not a request. “I may have a few things to add to it.” She hummed. “I’ll need to have a word with Albus, too. And maybe Augusta and Xeno.”

As she spoke, Falsworth was leading her in the direction of the office, again. He went to a smaller desk and opened a folder that lay on it.

“This is what we’ve come up with so far.” He gestured to a sheet of parchment.

“Testing? This is only for one week?” McGonagall frowned.

“That’s right.” Falsworth nodded. “We need to know what the kids are capable of before we go throwing them in over their heads and expecting them to swim, first time. Plus, Harry wants to learn sword and knife fighting and we don’t yet have anyone to teach that. Albus was going to speak to someone he knew, but that’s supposed to be later today. This is a rough list of what we hope to teach them, depending on time.” He held out a second sheet.

“I see.” McGonagall repeated after a quick reading. “Very well. Add animagi to that list, please. Right at the top.”

“Not how it works.” Falsworth said. “Once we know what they can do, we’ll sit down with them and work out who’s going to learn what and how much they already know about it. Then I’ll do up schedules, one each and only for a week at a time. When they’re competent in something, we’ll drop it from intensive training to daily revision.”

As the sun set that evening, McGonagall sat at a large round table, with all the other residents of Freedom Island, in the manor’s grand ballroom.

“Alright, Albus.” Sirius looked at the Headmaster. “Start talking and keep going until we tell you to stop.”

“Very well.” Albus Dumbledore nodded. “We’re here to help young Harry end this war. To do so, we need to know all there is to know about his opposition. His birth name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. The public calls him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who. I shan’t say the name that he gave himself, as I have recently been informed that he’s planning to put a taboo curse on it, if he hasn’t done so, already.” He lifted a sturdy crystal glass and took a sip of sweet, golden orange juice. “The son of Merope Gaunt, a near squib, and Thomas Riddle, a wealthy muggle, he was born in a London orphanage on…”

It took Dumbledore roughly an hour and a half to divulge everything he knew about Riddle and lean back in his seat.

“Horcruxes?” Sirius whispered. “He actually made horcruxes? Is he insane?”

“He is now, even if he wasn’t when he started.” Remus muttered.

“I’m not sure I understand.” Albus looked at the werewolf.

“Horcruxes don’t just split a soul.” Remus said. “They also split a person’s sanity and intelligence.”

“What can be done to save him?” Albus asked.

“Nothing.” Remus sighed. “The damage is done. That was the main reason the Egyptians gave up on them. You can’t salvage the sanity or the intellect. About one in a thousand can re-merge the soul shards with the original, but not the sanity or intellect.”

“You mean…?”

“He’ll always be insane?” Remus asked. “Yes. And he’ll never regain his mind.”

“Oh, dear.” Albus whispered. “I had hoped to redeem him.”

“No, not possible.” Remus said.

“What about the one in Harry?” Bucky asked as Sirius seemed unable to speak.

“There is no way of removing it without-” Albus started.

“Yes, there is.” Remus cut him off. “But we’d need a Curse-breaker.”

“It can be removed?” Albus sat forward. “Nothing I’ve found indicates that.”

“It can.” Remus nodded. “The ritual is simple, it’s standard in most curse-breaking traineeships. Spirit possession happens to them on a regular basis. Poor Bill Weasley has had it happen to him a number of times, according to Molly and Arthur.”

“Is he a member of the Order?” Hermione asked. “Could we ask him to do?”

“Even knowing what Molly and the two youngest planned, you’d trust William?” McGonagall asked.

“He works for Gringotts.” Moody said. “And Gringotts only take on the best.”

“Bill is not Molly.” Tonks objected at the same time.

“No, he’s not. Nor is he Ron or Ginny.” Kingsley said. “Arthur is most annoyed with them and if it had been left to him to hand out their punishment, it would have been a great deal harsher.”

“Bill’s cool.” Harry said. “I liked him and Charlie.” Harry might have been stressed by the Tournament but he clearly remembered that Bill treated him like a family friend, not the Boy-Who-Lived.

“Very well, I shall approach William and inquire if he would assist us.” Albus said.

“And we’ve a list of the other horcruxes.” Tonks said. “Although getting our hands on them is going to be difficult.”

“The cup is going to be the hardest.” Kingsley warned. “We’ve no way of getting into the Lestrange vault.”

“Actually, no, that’s going to be the easiest.” Sirius objected. “I’m Lord Black. I claimed that before I did the adoptions from Alphard, so I kept it even after the adoptions. I can enter Bella’s vault, I can’t remove anything, but I can access it.”

“How does that help us?” Tonks wanted to know.

“If Harry can get another fang from the basilisk, I can take that with me into Bella’s vault and kill it, still inside the vault.” Sirius answered.

“Professor Lupin?” Hermione asked. “Is there a curse-breaking ritual that will kill all the horcruxes at once?”

“Not that I know of, but we can always ask Bill. He’ll know.”

“I think…” Harry bit his lip as he spoke, mangling his words a little. “I think I would prefer to destroy it, then there can be no confusion. It can never be used again if it’s got a hole through it. The idea of drinking from something that was a horcrux is… ugh…”

“You have a point.” Albus nodded.

“Do you have pictures of the items?” Falsworth asked.

Albus tilted his head in thought. “I’m uncertain, but I can conjure replicas of them.” He flicked his wand and one by one, a number of items shimmered into being, floating in front of him.

“Hey, I know that locket!” Hermione gasped. “I saw that at number… at number… why can’t I say it, Professor ?” 

“Headquarters’ address?” Albus asked.

“Yes!”

“It’s under _fidelius,_ my dear, and you are not the Secret Keeper, thus you cannot tell the Secret.” Albus explained.

“Oh.” Hermione frowned. “That locket was in a heap of stuff that Mrs Weasley wanted to throw out but Mr Weasley wouldn’t let her. He said that it was jewellery and it belonged to the house of Black and it was not for her to say what should be thrown out and what should be kept.”

“Sirius made Kreacher put it in a trunk with a whole lot of other stuff with the Black crest on them and put it in the attic.” Harry said.

“I did?” Sirius asked, blinking.

“You weren’t really awake,” Harry laughed, “and sort of growled at Kreacher to do what Mr Weasley said.”

“That sounds more like me.” Sirius laughed.

“Well, that gives us two.” Morita said. "With five left still to find."

“Four left.” Hermione corrected. “Second year, Harry destroyed the diary. And the one in Harry.”

“Oh, yes, I forgot about them.” Morita made a note. “So, that leaves…?”

“The diadem and the ring.”

“Is there any way of checking how many he’s made? If he’s made more since his resurrection?” Hermione asked.

“Actually, yes.” Remus nodded. “A part of the ritual to destroy one, states how many pieces are left.”

“Alright, until we know for certain how many pieces there are, I think that we should concentrate on getting this one out of Harry.” Bucky said. “We can meet each evening, to discuss the day’s activities. At least until Siri starts up the time dilation field, we’ll have to re-access timing later.” He looked around the table. “All in favour?” A chorus of agreement answered him.

“Excellent…” Dumbledore twinkled. “I shall be off to speak with young William. If he gives an oath of secrecy, would anyone be concerned about telling him what we’re doing? Not just an outline but the complete truth?”

“If he makes the oath. Sure.” Sirius said. “And don’t forget to speak to Snape. I still need to know why you trust him so much.”

Dumbledore’s twinkle faded a little, but he nodded. “I shall go to him directly and then to William. I shall return as soon as I can.” He stood and Fawkes flitted from the owl stand he’d been roosting on, over to Dumbledore’s shoulder. A quiet trill and the pair vanished in a burst of flames.

“Right, who’s for hot chocolate?” Sirius clapped his hands.

“Me.” Remus was the first to climb to his feet and head for the kitchen.


	9. Chapter 9

_“Excellent…” Dumbledore twinkled. “I shall be off to speak with young William. If he gives an oath of secrecy, would anyone be concerned about telling him what we’re doing? Not just an outline but the complete truth?”_

_“If he makes the oath. Sure.” Sirius said. “And don’t forget to speak to Snape. I still need to know why you trust him so much.”_

_Dumbledore’s twinkle faded a little, but he nodded. “I shall go to him directly and then to William. I shall return as soon as I can.” He stood and Fawkes flitted from the owl stand he’d been roosting on, over to Dumbledore’s shoulder. A quiet trill and the pair vanished in a burst of flames._

_“Right, who’s for hot chocolate?” Sirius clapped his hands._

_“Me.” Remus was the first to climb to his feet and head for the kitchen._

Nicholas Joseph Fury stomped into the elegant Victorian country house, followed closely by Phillip Jefferson Coulson. Neither were pleased to have been called halfway around the world by a panicked Andrew Carter, nephew of former director, Peggy Carter. Apparently, Peggy had gone out with a few friends, namely James Falsworth, James Morita and Timothy Dugan and the four of them had come back with very different ages.

Andrew greeted Fury in the entryway and pointed in the direction of an informal sitting room. After Fury entered the sitting room, he took two steps and froze.

“I didn’t believe it.” He muttered.

“It does sound a bit farfetched.” A ten-year-old Peggy Carter allowed.

“A **_bit_** farfetched?” James Falsworth looked to be in his late teens or early twenties.

Timothy Dugan just grunted and Fury judged him to be in his late twenties or early thirties.

Fury looked at the third Howling Commando and frowned, judging James Morita’s age was much harder, he guessed the Asian man to be somewhere between twenty and fifty, but narrowing it down to anything closer was going to be nigh on impossible. Even at eighty, he still hadn’t really looked his age.

“What happened?” Fury asked.

“Spiked drink.” Peggy replied.

“Reversable?”

“Not according to the medical experts that we’ve spoken to.” Peggy said. Leaving out that as yet, Falsworth, Morita and Dum-dum were only under the **_temporary_** effects of a de-aging potion. It would all depend on whether or not Andi could get them the permanent version and whether the men would take it. They were more than happy to have new documents and if/when they allowed the de-aging to reverse, they could always say ‘oh well, it seems the expert was partially wrong, see Peggy’s still a kid, maybe it’s only permanent on females’. Or some of the like.

“Motherfu-”

“There’s another issue.” Peggy took no notice of Fury’s swearing.

“What now?” Fury snarled.

“We found someone.”

“Who?”

“That would be us.” Bucky entered the room with Sirius at his side.

“And I’m supposed to know who you are?” Fury snorted.

“Yes, you are.” Peggy said. “Phillip? Who does he look like?”

Phil Coulson frowned but looked at the man, his frown deepened before his face went completely slack in shock. “Oh, dear god…” He whispered.

“Cheese?” Fury blinked at the man’s expression.

“Barnes.” Coulson whispered. “James Buchannan Barnes.”

“What?!” Fury screeched. “You’re trying to say that this… man… is _**Bucky Barnes** **?**_ ”

Coulson just nodded, barely aware of anything other than the man standing there.

“How did that happen?” Fury demanded.

“I was providing security to Mr Black, here, in the SSR building in Brooklyn, when the building shook and we fell into the archway that he was researching.” Bucky shrugged.

“Carter?” Fury was asking a lot with just her name.

“As far as I can determine?” She said. “Yes, this is Bucky and Sirius Black. They were able to repeat a conversation that we’d had the morning of their disappearance. Plus, Barnes had the only weapon we were able to document as missing, serial numbers have been confirmed and it’s in exactly the same condition now as it was then, no evidence of aging. Both men were wearing the exact clothing and Black had with him a copy of his research that I’d viewed only that morning, with my signature under Col. Phillips’, approving the next step of his research.”

“Ironically enough, it was going to be sending items into the archway.” Sirius said. This was all true, but without telling Fury and Coulson about magic, this was the closest they were going to get, to telling them what happened.

“If it’s irreversible, what do you expect **_me_** to do?” Fury asked.

“We need new documents.” Peggy said.

“Documents…?” Fury asked flatly.

“Of course.” Peggy replied. “Now, while I **_could_** have just spoken to Phillip, I felt that you needed to be involved. If you hadn’t **_seen_** this, would you have **_believed_** it?”

Fury sighed. “No.”

“No, you wouldn’t have.” Peggy agreed with him. “But now you have seen, you do believe. So… I want this off the books. **_Completely... Utterly_ …**” The last two words were said in a hard, cold voice, belying her young appearance.

“I don’t want to know.” Fury headed for the door. “Coulson, you get to deal with it. **_Don’t_** tell me. **_Don’t_** show me. Put the paperwork in place and cover your ass. Delete any links to S.H.I.E.L.D., any at all. **_Nothing_** is to connect them to us.” He paused. “Except **_you_**. Keep a contact number or an address, but **_don’t_** tell me, I don’t want to know. Have someone take you to a hotel, tonight. I’m talking the car and as **_you’ll_** be here for a few days getting this sorted, I’m taking the plane, too. You can find your own way home.” He stalked out of the room and out of the house.

“Yes, sir.” Coulson said to the empty doorway, he sighed and crossed to a sofa. “I’ll need some details, please. Miss Carter, you first. Who are we making you into?”

“I’m sure that you are aware that my children and their spouses are dead.” She replied and Coulson nodded. “My daughter-in-law, Lydia, died in childbirth. I want you to make documents that state that I am that child. Named after myself, of course, I have no intention of changing my name too much.” She warned. “But a minor change must be there to support the story. So, instead of Margaret Elizabeth, I shall be Margaret Victoria. Born 1st of April 1986, after all, according to the medical experts we consulted, I **_am_** physically ten years old. Thankfully the dates are fairly close, Lydia died on the 3rd of April that same year.”

As she’d spoken, Coulson had made notes in a small notebook that he’d pulled from a pocket.

“Yes, ma'am.” Coulson nodded. “Margaret Victoria, born 1st of April 1986, daughter of Matthew Carter and Lydia Carter, nee…?”

“James, Phillip.” Peggy said.

“Lydia Carter, nee James.” Coulson kept writing. “What of schooling?”

Two hours later, Coulson laid down his notebook after repeating back the rough outlines of new identities for Peggy, Bucky, Sirius, Falsworth, Morita and Dum-dum.

Peggy looked at each man and each man in turn nodded.

“Yes, Phillip, that will be fine.”

“The last thing I need to know are addresses and finances.” Coulson said. “Here in the UK and back home in the US.”

Peggy looked to Sirius for an answer.

“For Peggy, Bucky and I?” Sirius replied. “Eleven Grimmauld Place, Islington, London will be our main postal address. The school where the Bucky and I will be working, is extremely private and all mail to the school goes via a Royal Mail Box in London.” Sirius had bought the townhouse next door to where he'd grown up, specifically for getting and sending muggle post to and from Harry.

“And you gentlemen?” Coulson asked the other three.

“Put down my place.” Dum-dum said. “I’m on the corner of Venting and Lucas Roads, Florida, Massachusetts.”

“Let’s alter that slightly.” Coulson suggested. “What number Venting Road? Technically?”

“1432-1576 Venting and 821-974 Lucas.” Dum-dum replied. “And I have a PO box as well.”

“No, we won’t need that.” Coulson said. “I’ll put Morita down on Venting and you on Lucas. And what of you Mr Falsworth?”

“Crab-apple Farm, North Kilphedir, Scotland.” Falsworth replied. “Usually, I just put the Royal Mail Box address, but just to make it a bit different, I’ll use the farm name.”

“And death certificates?”

“Hold off on that, just yet.” Peggy said. “Let separate them, say a month or so, gentlemen?” The three nodded. “Missing persons reports can be lodged by Andrew. He can said that the four of us went on a highland drive and never returned.”

“I suggest altering that.” Coulson said. “Perhaps it would be better for your brother, Michael, to state that he was aware of your visitors and was allowing you the privacy to reminisce together. That he came to see you, expecting your guests to have left but all their luggage was still in the guest rooms, your purse and identification were still in the house with none of you to be found. He knows nothing more.”

“Yes. Yes, that would be better.” Peggy nodded. “Would you explain it to him? His Alzheimer’s will likely allow him to accept that as fact. His son, Andrew, is be the one we should be keeping in know.” She gestured to the patio where Andrew was visible, reading a magazine.

“I’ll interview them, myself.” Coulson said. “What of your finances?”

“Wills… Margaret Elizabeth Carter left everything she owns to her only grandchild and namesake, Margaret Victoria Carter. If it can be processed quietly, I’d much appreciate it.”

“And for the gentlemen?”

“Much the same.” Falsworth said. “Leaving it to my grandnephew Montgomery Falsworth.” He handed over a number of envelopes.

“My grandson, Tim Dugan.” Dum-dum said.

“My great grandson, Lucas Morita.” Morita added.

“Phillips ordered Barnes’ army pay closed out and left in the care of Howard.” Peggy said. “Someone’s going to need to talk to Tony about it.”

“We can provide documentation to show that Buchannan James is James Barnes’ grandson and request Stark transferred back to the family. A photo will back that up, a slightly different haircut, along with the documents we’ll put in place, should be enough to convince Stark.” Coulson made a note. “And you Black?”

“Mine’s already been seen to.” Sirius replied. “My Will was activated when I had been missing for three months. It went to Alphard Black and his family, the family solicitor is a close friend of mine and, while quite shocked to see me turn up after all these years, he’s ready to go ahead with transferring everything to me, once I have a legal identity.”

“I’ll get it done, either tonight or by close of business tomorrow.” Coulson assured them. “I am assuming that you three will be staying in England for a while?” When they nodded, he went on. “I’ll get passports, travel docs as well as entry and work visas stamped before I return. Shall we say… 8pm tomorrow evening? That way if any of you have concerns or feel that I’ve missed a document, I can correct it before the end of the week.”

Bill Weasley looked around at the garden that the portkey given to him by Professor Dumbledore, had deposited him in. Lush and green with bright flowers dotted here and there. He had no idea where he was and he was a little nervous about it.

“Wotcha, Bill.” Tonks greeted him from a nearby gate in a hedge.

“Tonks.” He said. “Care to tell me what this is all about?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “Not without an Oath of Confidentiality.”

“And what will the Oath say?” Tonks handed over a slip of parchment and Bill carefully read it. “That sounds fine.” He nodded. “Are you the witness?”

“Yep.”

“All right.” Bill produced his wand and quickly, and carefully, made his Oath.

“Brilliant.” Tonks beamed. “This way, then. Come and meet the crew that’s going to take down old snakeface.”

Bill blinked and shook his head before following Tonks into the elegant manor house. Down a broad hallway and into a grand ballroom to be greeted by a twirling Luna Lovegood who was dancing with Neville Longbottom, the two using the swirls and spins of a waltz to avoid the beams of light being thrown at them by Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

“Hiya, Bill.” Harry Potter called from his position on the other side of the ballroom, where Hermione Granger was trying, and failing, to teach the young seeker to waltz.

“Hey, Harry. Hey, Hermione, how’re your toes?” Bill laughed as Harry stumbled yet again.

“Sore.” Hermione sighed.

“Give it up, Mione.” Harry grumbled. “You know I can’t dance.”

“No Potter can.” Remus Lupin wandered into the room. “I warned you. Fly? Like birds. Dance? Like drunken dragons. Thankfully, it doesn’t stop them from moving well, when fighting. Duelling? They’re not too bad. But once they start **_fighting?_** That clumsiness all goes away.”

“Aye, I remember Fleamont fighting with some of Riddle’s Inner Circle in the first war.” Moody grinned. “Moved like liquid lightening, he did.”

“Then what’s the point of me giving poor Mione sore toes?” Harry demanded.

“Honestly, Harry.” Hermione huffed. “Everyone should know how to dance.”

“Except Potters.” Remus chuckled. “James used to fall over sideways every time he tried. Nothing Lily did, helped either.”

“Mostly?” Kingsley ignored Remus. “Distraction until Bill got here.”

“Why **_am_** I here?” Bill asked.

“We’ve got a horcrux to deal with.” Moody said.

“A horcrux? Really…?” Bill whined. “I though it might be something challenging.”

“Oh, it’s challenging alright.” Harry snarled. “It’s in my **_head.”_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING  
> Mentions of sexual abuse, but no details.

_“Honestly, Harry.” Hermione huffed. “Everyone should know how to dance.”_

_“Except Potters.” Remus chuckled. “James used to fall over sideways every time he tried. Nothing Lily did, helped either.”_

_“Mostly?” Kingsley ignored Remus. “Distraction until Bill got here.”_

_“Why **am** I here?” Bill asked._

_“We’ve got a horcrux to deal with.” Moody said._

_“A horcrux? Really…?” Bill whined. “I though it might be something challenging.”_

_“Oh, it’s challenging alright.” Harry snarled. “It’s in my **head.”**_

“Harry?” Bill asked sharply, his eyes focusing on that famous scar.

“Yep.” Harry nodded. “When Riddle attacked us, whatever mum did made his Killing Curse ricochet back at him. Professor Dumbledore believes that he’d already done part of the ritual to create a horcrux and intended to use my death as the act of splitting his soul. However, mum’s protection changed that and when the Killing Curse hit him, his soul split, but because he wasn’t able to direct the soul-shard into the vessel that he intended to use, it went looking for its own vessel, preferably one with magic. And as I was the strongest magical signature in the room and had a cut on my forehead from the blast the Killing Curse hitting him caused? It latched onto me.”

“That sounds about normal for the damned things.” Bill nodded.

“Fast forward a few hours and Dumbledore’s taking me from Hagrid, who took me from Sirius in Godric’s Hollow. He scanned me and as he wasn’t aware that horcruxes can be removed, he took no steps to have it treated.” Harry continued.

“Bloody hell…” Bill sighed.

“So… I’ve had a passenger in my scar for the last fourteen and a half years.” Harry finished.

“Horcruxes are useless.” Bill shook his head in disbelief. “Sure, they can resurrect someone that died, but they don’t **_increase_** the **_length_** of their life.”

“Really?” Hermione asked.

“Yeah.” Bill nodded. “The oldest known witch or wizard, not including the Flamels with their philosopher’s stone, was a wizard from Spain, Senor Jorge Martinez. He died of natural causes at one-hundred-and-forty-seven.”

“One-hundred-and-forty-seven?” Harry did some quick math in his head. “Riddle’s only half that. Less. From what Professor Dumbledore says, Riddle will be seventy on New Year’s Eve.”

“Right.” Bill grimaced. “And we don’t need him around for another seventy-odd years.”

“No.” Harry said. “Hence the Horcrux in me needs removing and we need to kill a few more.”

“More?” Bill asked. “You’ve already killed one?”

“I’ve killed one.” Harry nodded. “The diary in my second year. It was possessing Ginny and forced her to open the chamber of secrets. We know about six, all up.”

“ ** _That’s_** what happened in her first year?” Bill demanded.

“Yes.” Harry replied.

“Oh, sweet Nimue…” Bill groaned. “That puts a different slant on things.” 

“Why do you say that?” Hermione asked.

“Because horcrux possession leaves traces and those traces, if not treated can create susceptibility to compulsions and mind magics like the Imperius Curse.” Bill said. “I’ll have to scan her when I get home, work out how much resistance she actually has.”

“You mean… she might not have been fully responsible for her actions?” Kingsley sat up sharply.

“Exactly.” Bill said. “But to what degree? I don’t know until I scan her.”

“Oh, hell…” Kingsley grimaced.

“We can talk about the girl, later.” Moody said. “Right now we have to get that mess out of Potter’s head.”

“Right.” Bill nodded. “I’m going to need a few things.”

“Like…?” Moody glared at the curse-breaker.

“Some fine white sand. Some good clean charcoal. Some refined salt. At least a cup of each. A raven feather. A silver potions knife. A handful of pure wool. Some red Runic Ink. And some pure distilled water.” Bill ticked off his list on his fingers. “And it would probably be a good idea if there were some healing potions for Harry, for afterwards.”

“Andromeda Tonks is in charge of the infirmary.” Kingsley told Bill. “She’ll want to be there when you do it.”

“So will **_he_**.” Hermione warned.

“Ah. Yes, he probably will.” Moody grunted.

“He?” Bill asked.

“Ah…” Harry bared his teeth.

“Um…” Hermione winced.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake…” Neville groaned.

“We’re back!” A voice yelled and a group of people entered the room. “Ah, Bill Weasley, I take it? You got here alright, then?”

“Sirius Black?” Bill stepped between Sirius and Harry, only to have Harry dart around him and step directly into Sirius’ arms.

“Um… We haven’t told him anything yet.” Harry told Sirius, he leant back to look at his godfather.

“Ugh…” Sirius grunted.

“Wand down, Weasley.” Moody ordered. “Black’s working with us and always has been. He wasn’t the Potters’ Secret Keeper, Pettigrew was.”

“But what about your third year?” Bill asked.

“Peter Pettigrew is better known as Wormtail.” Bill’s eyes widened at Harry’s comment, he’d seen the map, the twins had asked him to check it out after their father had given them the ‘don’t use something if you can’t see where it keeps its brain’ talk between their first and second years. “But you know him better as Scabbers the rat.” Bill nearly choked on nothing but air, that little… He’d slept in Ginny’s room…

“Oh, fuck…” Bill whined. “What’s the bet that _**he’s**_ the other magical signature that the DMLE recorded at the Burrow?”

At his question, Kingsley and Moody gasped and ran from the room, or rather, Kingsley ran while Moody hobbled as fast as he could. Hermione, Neville and a few others just looked blankly after them.

“Oh, shit…” Harry whispered, he’d figured out what Bill was thinking. “If Pettigrew's been loyal to Riddle from the start, what’s the chance that Molly, Ron and Ginny’s actions have be planned by him and he’s either cursed them into it or confundus-ed them?”

“Oh, dear.” Hermione said.

“You don’t think…?” Sirius gasped.

“Would you put it passed him?” Harry asked.

Sirius tilted his head back and glared at the ceiling. “ ** _No_** , I bloody well **_wouldn’t_** …” He swore.

“Exactly.” Harry said. “If he did, then the healers might be able to help them, if he didn’t, nothing will change.”

“He’s got a point.” One of the newcomers said in an American accent. “Until we know, we’re still in the same position.”

“Which is getting that thing out of Harry’s head.” Hermione reminded them.

“Well, I told you what I need.” Bill repeated his list of requirements. “Get me them and I can do this in a few minutes.”

“Back in five.” Sirius and Remus left the ballroom.

“How about some introductions?” A tall dark-haired man said in an American accent.

“Sure.” Harry nodded. “This is Bill Weasley, he’s a Curse-breaker employed by Gringotts and brother to Ron, Ginny and the twins that we told you about.”

“Hello.” Bill gave a half-hearted wave and nodded.

“When I say your name please give Bill a wave. And Peggy? If I mess up, will you correct me please?” Harry addressed the questions to a small girl.

The girl nodded. “I will, Harry.”

“Right.” Harry took a deep breath. “First is Sirius’ husband, Bucky, he came back through the Veil with Sirius from 1946, which is where the Veil spat Sirius out after he entered it during the fight in the DoM. Next is Peggy Carter, she’s been accidentally, permanently de-aged, prior to that she was the director of the muggle equivalent of the DoM. Then the next three are James Falsworth, Dum-dum Dugan and Jim Morita, they were part of Bucky’s army unit in the muggles’ World War 2, the Howling Commandos. They’ve been temporarily de-aged, to train us and help us get rid of Riddle. Everyone else you should know.”

“Riddle?”

“His name’s under a taboo curse, so don’t say it.” Harry flicked his wand and letters formed in the air.

**TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE**

After a few moments, the letters began to move and formed new words.

**I AM LORD VOLDEMORT**

“Now you know his greatest secret. He’s the son of a muggle and a near-squib.” Hermione said.

Bill’s eyes were wide and his face pale.

“He’s not a man anymore, he made horcruxes.” Harry said. “Six of them.”

“At least six.” Hermione corrected. “We don’t know if he’s made more since his resurrection.”

“Now, you see why we want that thing out of Harry’s head.” Remus said entering the room, carrying a silver tray.

“We go everything, plus, Andi cast purifying charms over them all.” Sirius said, from behind Remus.

“The feather is willingly given by an Ice Raven, the only black feather it had.” Andi came in after them.

“Excellent.” Bill lifted a pair of dragonhide gloves from his belt and slid his hands into them.

He carefully picked up the feather used the knife to sharpen the feather to a quill-point. “Harry? Over here, lay on the floor in front of me.” He dipped the quill into the bottle of ink and crouched down to begin writing on Harry’s face, first outlining the scar, then his eyes, nose and mouth, chanting all the while.

“There you go, Harry.” Bill stood up and stepped back, cracking his neck to release the tension across his shoulders. “All done. Madam Tonks? He’s going to need a Systemic Purifying Draught.”

“Maybe now that that thing is out of his head, I’ll be able to repair some of the damage to his body.” Andi grumbled.

“Yeah, they object to a lot of healing.” Bill said. “They allow for structural integrity of the object holding them, body or item, but little more can be done in the way of healing of repair.”

“Curse-breaker Weasley, I’d be obliged if you would allow me to consult with you on further treatments for Mr Potter.” Andi spoke formally.

“Not necessary, Madam Tonks.” Bill said. “Once the Systemic Purifying Draught does its job, he can be treated as any other patient would. If you have any concerns, you can contact Healer Flickhammer at Gringotts in London, she’s the primary healer for the Curse-breakers based there.”

“Thank you, Mr Weasley.” Andi nodded. “I shall. For now, someone bring Harry through to the medical rooms, while I get the draught Mr Weasley suggested.”

“Call me Bill, ma'am.” Bill said as Bucky gently lifted Harry up off the floor. “Mr Weasley makes me feel like I’m back at Hogwarts with Professor McGonagall after me for some prank.” He grinned as he followed the American.

An hour later, the group were seated in the ballroom at the round table again, Moody and the other Aurors having joined them, to give an update on the latest news regarding the Weasley family.

“Well, Mr Potter’s going to be out of it for a day or two.” Andi said. “Releasing the binds that Pettigrew placed on him in 1991 has hit him like a bludger.”

“If we ever catch Pettigrew, we got a string of charges to cast at him.” Moody growled. “Imperius on Molly Weasley. Confunduses on Arthur, Ron and Ginny. Brewing of illicit potions. Intent to poison. Attempted Line Theft. Theft. Abuse of a minor. Memory charms on minors. Murder. Destruction of public property. Destruction of private property. Extortion. Palcing Illegal Binds.”

“And that’s just so far.” Kingsley added.

“It also means that Molly, Arthur, Percy, Ron and Ginny Weasley are staying in St. Mungo's.” Moody said. “All of them bear the traces of Pettigrew’s magical signature on their cores and bodies.”

Hermione grimaced. “Bodies?” She asked.

“The three children have been memory charmed and sexually abused.” Kingsley said softly. “Healers are doing what they can to correct it, but Pettigrew is a slippery rat. The healers have stated that they’ll de-age the three of them, just temporarily. That will remove any physical effects but there’s still the mental and psychological damage. Ron was conditioned to be Harry’s best mate but he was also conditioned to see him as a clone of James.”

“Harry’s nothing like James.” Sirius said. “It took me a while to look passed the surface but once I did, Harry’s far more like Lily.”

“Yes.” Kingsley nodded. “But Pettigrew didn’t see that, so neither did Ron.”

“Doesn’t sexual abuse create problems for the victims, magically?” Neville asked.

“No.” Andi shook her head. “Magic is all about intent and in the case of sexual abuse the intent of the abuser overrides that of the abused. If charms, potions or force are used, magic rejects the possibility that the victim has intended the act to happen. Once the de-aging happens, they’ll be considered as pure a newborn, magically. Well… Unless they’ve willing used Dark Magics.”

“How does that impact their convictions?” Hermione asked.

“Once the curses and charms are lifted all three will have to be dosed with veritaserum and questioned by a mind-healer using legilimency.” Moody answered. “Depending on their answers as to what will happen. But given what was found, there’s a good chance that they’ll have their sentences amended or possibly even revoked.”

“We just don’t know, yet.” Kingsley said. “It’s going to be days before they can be questioned.”

“Brilliant…” Sirius muttered.

“You don’t have to worry about that, the DMLE have it well in hand.” Moody told them. “Even Fudge is being helpful. He ordered Bones to do whatever it took to find out who was responsible. Amelia took that and she’s playing Lead Beater, no-one’s safe from her bludgers. Dolores Umbridge landed herself in custody for forcing Fred, George, Ron and Ginny to use a Black Quill, during her time at Hogwarts.”

“Go, Madam Bones.” Neville chuckled.

“Indeed.” Andi nodded. “Mr Longbottom?”

“Neville, please, Madam Tonks.” Neville said. “Like Bill said, I keep looking for Professor McGonagall whenever you say Mr.”

“Very well. Neville.” Andi gave the teen a regal head dip. “Please call me Andi. And that goes for all of you.”

“Why don’t we just say, no titles?” Tonks asked. “All except Moody, of course.” She threw a quick smirk at her mentor, ignoring his grunt.

“That will work fine.” Andi said. “Neville, you parents are responding well. I’ve been giving them small doses of de-aging potion, boosting the dose just before the previous one wears off. So far, I estimate I’ve removed roughly five years from them. I prefer to do it this way as I wish avoid any major injuries that they had suffered prior to the last attack. Yes, I know I could give them a large dose followed by smaller ones, but this gives me a chance to boost their overall health as I go and reintegrate the pieces of their minds that I recover along the way. All the pieces of their memories are there, they’re just shattered and scattered. I’m using legilimency to locate small pieces and put them in rough chronological order, as I do, larger pieces are automatically slotting back into place.”

“So, the de-aging is working on them?” Peggy asked. “They’ll recover?”

“I believe so.” Andi smiled at Neville. “They remember Neville, I can see the progression of time as Neville aged, in their memories. I’m trying to use that as a gauge for progression. But I’m taking it slowly. I want them fully recovered, or as fully as we’re going to get them, and rushing is not going help. I’d much rather take a month or two and have them fully recovered than take a week and have them remain semi-invalids.”

“Yes, please.” Neville had tears running down his cheeks, but his smile was bright and cheery.


	11. Chapter 11

_“So, the de-aging is working on them?” Peggy asked. “They’ll recover?”_

_“I believe so.” Andi smiled at Neville. “They remember Neville, I can see the progression of time as Neville aged, in their memories. I’m trying to use that as a gauge for progression. But I’m taking it slowly. I want them fully recovered, or as fully as we’re going to get them, and rushing is not going help. I’d much rather take a month or two and have them fully recovered than take a week and have them remain semi-invalids.”_

_“Yes, please.” Neville had tears running down his cheeks, but his smile was bright and cheery._

“Yes, Harry.” Andi nodded, studying the eager teen’s latest scan. “You’re fine to go. Bill stated that with the horcrux removed, you may find that your current wand no longer matches your core. Something to do with the connection you had with Riddle during your formative years, no being there anymore. Especially, as we were forced to de-aged you to repair the to your body. I had expected that I would have be able to repair the damage without resorting to such drastic measures. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.” Andi spoke with the same elegant formality that had been ingrained into both her and Sirius, as children of House Black.

“It’s fine Andi.” Harry assured the healer. “This works better, as far as I’m concerned. I’m taller. My scars are gone, including this one.” He rubbed a finger over an unmarked forehead. “All the damage done by the Dursleys is gone. I’m **_more_** than fine with that.”

“Of course, you are.” Andi shook her head. “Go on, get out of here. Tonks and Sirius are waiting to take you to Dublin.”

Harry gave her a bright smile and darted from the room.

Tonks and Sirius apparated to Dublin with the four teens, who were wearing subtle glamours. Harry had lighter hair and eyes, Hermione’s hair was straightened and darker, Luna’s hair was shortened and Neville’s went to a dirty blonde.

The old wandier took no notice of their appearances and after casting a charm on them telling them to cast a lumos before the charm expired, told them that only Luna and Hermione’s wands were strong matches. Luna’s matched her core well, a compatibility of 91%, with Hermione’s a few point higher at 94%. But that Neville and Harry’s wands were barely registering on the charm and Sirius’ wasn’t much better.

He looked over at Tonks. “Not you. You already have three excellent matches.”

“I do.” Tonks said. “All of them 98% or above.”

“Good. Stay out of the way.” The wandier grunted as he heaved a box onto the counter. “You first.” He pointed at Neville. “Hand over the box and pulse your magic into the box.” Neville did as he was directed and three pieces of wood began to glow.

“Right, here’s how it’s going to work.” The wandier said ten minutes later. “The two lasses only need two wands apiece but you gentlemen will be getting three each. I can bond them to you, once complete, but it involves giving the wand your blood.” All five nodded. “Excellent. Now the question is… Do you want **_all_** your wands to be identical or do you prefer some individuality?”

“Um…” Sirius looked to Tonks.

“For the girls, I’d say go identical.” Tonks answered. “They already have a well-matched standalone wand.”

“Right.” The wandier made notes.

“For the men, can you do one standalone and the other pair identical?”

“Of course.”

“Do that, then.”

“Just remember these wands are going to be far more receptive than what you’re currently using.” The wandier cautioned. “They’re all going to have to get used to the change in their core-access levels.”

“We know.” Tonks laughed. “We’ve got them slated for some rigorous training, this summer.”

“Good, they’re going to need it.” He laid the trays on a rolling table. “Come back in a couple of hours and I should have these ready to go.”

Later that evening, Sirius activated the time dilation crystals and the group watched as birds flying over went from darting across the sky to a slow crawl.

“That is wicked.” Neville exclaimed.

“Isn’t it?” Sirius barked a laugh.

“Alright. Inside.” Falsworth ordered. “Time to set up a training schedule.”

“Dumbledore should be along before seven.” Moody said, pointing to the grandfather clock at the base of the stairs to the house’s second floor. “One side-effect of time dilation is that all timepieces remain on the external time.” The clock read twenty-five past six.

“So, all our watches are running on outside time?” Hermione asked.

“They are.” Moody agreed, as the group entered the ballroom. “Take yer seats. Falsworth? All yours.”

“Thanks, Moody.” Falsworth gave the old Auror a nod. “It’s time to start your testing. We need to know what each of you can do as far as magic is concerned. Then we also need to take into consideration your physical condition and what type of hand-to-hand we’re going to teach you and who will teach whom.” He spread out a large sheet of paper on the table in front of him. “Now, Minerva, Remus, Moody and Kingsley have been most helpful as far as putting together a list of spells. First through third year, we’re only going to ask, if you can do the spell. Fourth and above, we’ll have you cast them. Although, I understand that there are a few spells that some are arguing over it being unfair to expect you to be able to cast, while others say you can cast them.”

“Sorry we’re late.” Albus Dumbledore lead Filius Flitwick into the room. “Filius has given his Oath and I have here a copy of my memory of that.” He gently laid a phial on the table.

“Good to have you with us, Professor.” Harry bounced out of his seat to shake the part-goblin’s hand. “Come and have a seat. Has Professor Dumbledore explained what’s happening, to you?”

“Oh, yes.” The little duellist chirped brightly. “And I’m delighted to help out.”

“Grand.” Falsworth said. “We were just about to go through the list of spells that Minerva gave us.”

“Perhaps, a quick introduction?” McGonagall suggested and when people nodded, she quickly went around the room naming people and giving a very brief outline of their history and skills.

“Thank you, Minerva.” Albus patted McGonagall’s hand. “Now, where were we?”

“The list of spells.” Falsworth said. “We’re just going to ask yes or no to the first to third year spells.”

“I really don’t see the point...” Flitwick said with a frown. “They’re all in fifth year, barring Miss Lovegood. They’ve all passed the end of year exams for each class, irrespective of OWL results. Albus? I asked you to bring along the students’ records. Did you?”

“I did.” The Headmaster laid four folders on the table. “I’ve had a quick peek and yes, all have passed their end of year exams.”

“Then we can discard the first through fourth year spells.” Flitwick said. “Even taking Madam Umbridge into consideration, all of them have passed fourth year. Mr Longbottom has progressed rapidly this year, going from near-bottom of the class to the upper one-third. And Miss Lovegood is as competent as many who sat OWLs this year.”

“In that case we’ll get you, Minerva, Albus and Remus to test each of them over the next day or so.” Falsworth made a note on a notepad beside him. “In the meantime we need to work out what each student is going to learn. Both magically and from a muggle standpoint.”

“I’d like to test each of them to determine if they have the ability to become animagi.” McGonagall looked at Sirius. “It might be an idea for you to consider, too.”

Sirius grimaced. “Uh…”

“What?” McGonagall asked flatly.

“We… um… we already did...” Sirius muttered, refusing to look the transfiguration Professor in the eye.

“You already did… what, exactly?” McGonagall’s voice was blank.

Sirius didn’t actually reply, not by speaking, at least. Instead he rose from the table and took two steps back before leaning forward and dropping onto all fours as Padfoot. One look at McGonagall’s face and Padfoot whined and pushed his head into his husband’s lap.

“Oh, you…” McGonagall nearly snarled. “Who else?” She looked to Remus for an answer.

“James and Peter.” Remus replied quickly.

“And they were what?”

“James was a stag and Peter was a rat.”

“ _Expecto patronum_.” Harry whispered and Prongs burst from his new wand. “That’s dad’s animagi form.” He said. “And Pettigrew was Scabbers.”

“Weasley’s rat?” McGonagall blinked.

“Yes…” Harry sighed and nodded.

“You can cast a Patronus?” Moody asked, his brows rising.

“Of course.” Harry replied. “We all can. Hermione’s is an otter.” He paused and nodded to the young witch, who then cast the charm and her otter joined Harry’s stag. “Luna’s is a Hare.” The hare bounded around the stag’s legs. “Neville’s isn’t incorporeal yet, but with a wand that matches him…? Try it, Nev.”

They all watched as the young wizard drew in a deep breath and held it before casting the spell.

“ _Expecto patronum_.” A massive cloud of mist slowly solidified and formed the shape of a fully grown lion, its shaggy mane ruffling in a non-existent breeze.

“Good one, Neville.” Harry cheered.

“Oh, well done.” Flitwick clapped his hands. “Well done, indeed.”

“How…?” McGonagall gasped.

“Harry taught us.” Luna said in her usual breezy voice.

“He did.” Neville said.

“He’s been our DADA teacher this year.” Hermione said. “We weren’t going to let Umbitch stop us from passing our OWLs, same with the twins, Lee and the quidditch queens.”

“Your… D.A., wasn’t it called?” Remus smothered a smile, while ignoring mangling of Umbridge’s name.

“Dumbledore’s Army, we called ourselves.” Harry said, looking proudly between Dumbledore and McGonagall. “Mostly fifth years and mostly Gryffindors but we had a smattering of students from other years and even some from other houses.”  
“And you taught them all?” McGonagall arched a brow.

“He did.” Neville said.

“I started with third year stuff and went up.” Harry added. “Dennis Creevey and Natalie MacDonald were the youngest, they’re in second year. They struggled for a few weeks but soon caught on. From there we went through the practical stuff, we got enough theory with Umbitch, so I didn’t bother with it.”

“How far did you go?” Remus’ curiosity was clear.

“NEWT practicals.” Hermione said. “Harry owled Oliver Wood and asked for his seventh-year stuff and a breakdown of what was in his NEWT practical examinations. And the twins brought in the seventh-year books from their brothers’ collections.”

“You covered from third year to seventh year, inside **_one_** year?” Even Remus was surprised.

“Oh, no.” Hermione objected. “We didn’t start the D.A. meetings until after Halloween. It took weeks to convince Harry to teach us. Then we had to find somewhere big enough to fit us all, where Umbitch wouldn’t find us.”

“Not including holidays, you’ve had six months doing this?” McGonagall asked. “Correct?”

“About that.” Harry nodded.

“And all of you reached the same level?” Flitwick asked.

“Of course, Professor.” Harry said. “It did take a little more for Dennis and Natalie to do some of the NEWT level stuff, but other than being a little more tired and hungry than usual, they were fine. We made sure that they didn’t strain their cores.” He assured the Professors.

“I see…” McGonagall looked at Harry sternly. “Did you keep notes on what was taught and when?”

“I did.” Harry grinned and pulled out a satchel and from that he retrieved a pile of muggle notebooks with subject dividers. “One for me, with an overview of what had been taught and when and ideas for possible suture classes and one for each student, each division is one year’s work.” He said, spreading them out on the table.

“May I?” McGonagall asked and when Harry nodded, she picked one up at random. “Mr Macmillan?”

“Ernie was okay.” Harry said. “Not great but okay. He kept up but didn’t put in as much effort as he could have. If I had to grade him, I’d say a low to mid EE.”

“Did he manage a disillusionment charm?” Flitwick asked, trying to look over McGonagall’s shoulder, even though he barely came up to said shoulder.

“Of course.” Harry stated. “We covered everything in Practical Defence Against the Dark Arts, that was issued by Remus for years three to seven.”

“And what of other subjects?” McGonagall asked.

“Nope.” Harry replied cheerfully. “Didn’t need to do anything about them. We had decent teachers for them. Although… I could use some potions catchup, Snape’s idea of teaching was to write the recipe on the board and sit down.”

“We can look at that for later, Harry.” Hermione said. “We have to concentrate on Tom and getting rid of his horcruxes.”

“Ah, there I have news.” Dumbledore sat forward and slid a small jewellery box onto the table. “I managed to find this. The Peverell Family Ring.” Looked at the box and sighed. “However it came at a cost.” He held up his hand, it was blackened and looked badly bruised. “I wasn’t expecting the compulsion charms to be quite so… insidious. Severus was only able to slow the withering curse, not stop it. At most, he believes I have a year before it reaches my heart.”

“Not if **_I_** have anything to say about it.” Bill Weasley snarled. “You should have come straight to me, Professor. Withering curses are nasty stuff. I can break it **_but_** … I may not be able to reverse the damage its already done.”

“Anything that you can do will be gratefully accepted, William.” Dumbledore gave the Curse-breaker a tired smile.

“Come on, then, no time to waste.” Bill stood up. “Andi, you had probably better come, too.” He turned back to the table. “We’ll be back as soon as we can but it’ll take a while. Don’t wait on us.”

“Alright, back to it.” Falsworth said. “Magical levels can best tested later, let’s look at muggle stuff.” Looked to Flitwick. “You’re here to teach sword and knife skills, right?”

“I am.” Flitwick nodded.

“Who’s interested in that?” Falsworth asked.

Harry looked from Luna, to Hermione and then Neville. “Looks like it’s just Neville and I.” he said.

“Right.” Falsworth made at note on his notepad. “Animagi?”

Another look around from Harry. “All of us.”

“Good.” Another note was made. “Guns?”

“All of us. But the girls are more interested in the long-range stuff and Neville and I are only looking at the pistols as backup.”

“Fair enough.” Notes were made in two places. “Hand to hand? We have couple of different types. Peggy believes the girls need some gender specific basics regardless of whether they go any further or not. Bucky can teach you street fighting, the no-rules stuff. Morita will teach the more refined martial arts, Dum-dum will teach the more blunt-force stuff, boxing and wrestling sort of thing.”

“I suggest that everyone be taught some basics in everything and then we can look at additional training.” Peggy said. “The last thing we need is for you to be in a position where you could see to your own defence **_if_** you’d had a little more training.”

“She’s right and you know it.” Sirius pointed to each of the teens.

“In that case let’s start with some physical conditioning.” Dum-dum said and Morita nodded.

“Once Albus and Bill return, we need to kill whatever this is.” Moody grunted pointed at the jewellery box.

“That means a trip to Hogwarts, and the chamber of secrets, for a basilisk fang and if possible, some venom.” Remus perked up at the chance to see the fabled chamber.


	12. Chapter 12

_“I suggest that everyone be taught some basics in everything and then we can look at additional training.” Peggy said. “The last thing we need is for you to be in a position where you could see to your own defence **if** you’d had a little more training.”_

_“She’s right and you know it.” Sirius pointed to each of the teens._

_“In that case let’s start with some physical conditioning.” Dum-dum said and Morita nodded._

_“Once Albus and Bill return, we need to kill whatever this is.” Moody grunted pointed at the jewellery box._

_“That means a trip to Hogwarts, and the chamber of secrets, for a basilisk fang and if possible, some venom.” Remus perked up at the chance to see the fabled chamber._

Three days later, or perhaps that should be… three training rotations later, the group met in the ballroom, again. All of them ignoring the darkness outside the window, that was incredibly slowly turning to daylight.

Living four hours for each one, that passed on a clock was a peculiar thing. Rest times were scheduled by the clock and someone was always up and about. Rooms had to be blacked out with heavy curtains, to allow people to sleep. Dobby and Winky were having to prepare twelve meals a day, instead of three and that meant a lot more shopping for groceries. Then there was the fact that most people were running around and getting dirty and sweaty for hours on end, meaning the laundry was a never-ending chore.

And that didn’t take into account the hunt for the last horcruxes. They had already destroyed the diary and removed the one in Harry’s scar, they had the ring under heavy wards in the house’s ritual chamber. That left them the locket and the diadem, if they were lucky. The locket, they knew was in Grimmauld, assuming that Mungdungus Fletcher hadn’t stolen it and would be retrieved on the same trip that they used to go to the chamber of secrets.

“Magically?” Dumbledore said. “I agree with my colleagues, we should have listened to Harry. All four of them are capable of sitting their NEWT practicals and passing. Mr Longbottom and Miss Lovegood might not achieve O’s, but they would certainly pass.”

“Physically…” Falsworth paused. “Just for clarification… We’ve split their training into magical and physical groupings. Magical is like it sounds, anything they would learn solely from the magical world. Physical, covers everything else, everything they could learn in the muggle world. Clear?” He looked around the table and saw most people nodding. “Good. Physically, Harry’s far and away more fit than the others but given their histories, that’s to be expected.” The Howlie told them. “Peggy’s taking the girls for the next few sessions, while Neville will work with Morita and Harry with Bucky. Sirius, and Remus will join Neville. Tonks? You’re in with the girls. Filius? I’m hoping you can work with Andi and Minerva and come up with a way to have some guns fire charms or hexes instead of bullets. Those of us that are squibs or muggles, or Bucky, need a way to incapacitate the enemy but we also need it to be password protected.”

“I’m not sure I understand.” Flitwick frowned. “Password protected?”

“If you don’t have the password, you can’t remove the charm.” Falsworth said.

Flitwick’s face cleared. “Oh, yes, of course. Why didn’t we think of that?”

“You haven’t the experience with computers and passwords, like most muggles have.” Falsworth said. “Minerva, another thing we need you and Andi to work on is the animagi potion.”

“I’ve got that.” Sirius said. “James and I worked out a few shortcuts to the usual recipe and procedure.”

“What did you do?” McGonagall looked at her former student sternly.

“We altered the section that has you holding a mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month, to soaking it in a combination of blood and saliva for a week. The other change we made is the electrical storm, we did heap of lightning charms, just kept going until we could feel the static in the air and the potion started to sparkle.”

“I’ll need to view you memories, Sirius.” Andi said, sharply.

“As will I.” McGonagall nodded.

“Excellent.” Dumbledore beamed at them.

“We’ve decided that we’ll wait until mid-afternoon to head to Hogwarts and the chamber. Professor Snape is more likely to be engrossed in brewing for the hospital wing, at that time.” Hermione said. “Less chance of running into the man.”

“We can’t take the chance that he learns something that would be a risk to him.” Bucky said. “His position is precarious enough.”

“It is.” Dumbledore nodded. “I spoke with him, last night and requested his permission to explain where my trust in him originates from. He was… reluctant but agreed to it, if Oaths of Confidentiality were given.”

“Professor?” Harry asked. “I’ve been thinking about that.”

“Yes, Harry?” Dumbledore tilted his head in question.

“I’m wondering…? Do we **_all_** need to know? Or can we have a select few take the Oath and tell us that your trust in him is worth it?” Harry asked. “It would tell us, not necessarily why you trust him, but that your trust a good thing. If Siri, who really can’t stand him, and say… Peggy who doesn’t actually know him, both believe your reasons are good, I’ll accept that and won’t ask for more.”

“Me, Peggy, Moody and Andi.” Sirius corrected. “I won’t insist on more than that but Moody is a suspicious bastard, he won’t believe without knowing for himself. Peggy is used to working with spies and secrets. Andi, as our primary healer, needs to know everything, just in case we are forced to bring Snape to her for treatment. And me. I… Before the Veil, I would say I hated him… but for me, it’s been nearly two years since then. I’ve seen a lot and done a lot. I’d like to think that I’ve grown up a little. I don’t think I hate him, anymore, but he’ll never be my favourite person. My favourite **_DeathEater_** , yeah, sure, but not my favourite **_person_**.” He shrugged. “I think it’s safe to say that those at this table rank higher in my affections than Snape, but if I have to choose, his life or Fudge’s? Snape gets my vote.” He finished with very false cheer, causing the teens and Bill to laugh at him.

“Then perhaps, you, Miss Carter, Alastor and Madam Tonks would join me in the infirmary for a private discussion?” Dumbledore asked.

“I think that’s a good idea.” Moody agreed.

“Shall we go now?” Sirius looked at Dumbledore.

“We shall.” The Headmaster stood and offered his arm to Andi. “May I escort you, Madam Tonks?” She nodded regally and linked her arm through his.

“Don’t even think it.” Peggy glared at the two other wizards. “I am **_quite_** capable of escorting myself.” She followed Dumbledore and Andi from the room.

They were back before a clock said they’d been gone fifteen minutes, which under the time dilation, was actually an hour.

Sirius had a furious expression on his face and Peggy was no better, Andi’s face was blank and for some reason that told the people still working on the finer details of their training, that the healer was just as angry as her cousin was. While Moody? He’d stomped into the room in a tower of rage.

And… all of it was directed at Albus Dumbledore.

“Well?” Harry asked, he knew anger well enough to know that it wasn’t directed at him and wouldn’t be taken out on him.

“Albus too-many-names Dumbledore is a **_bloody frigging idiot_** and given his stupidity, you are **_NEVER_** allowed to be alone with him, nor are you allowed to go _**anywhere**_ with him, not without getting my consent **_first_**.” Sirius sounded very much like Harry would assume Padfoot would if he could talk and was angry with someone.

As he spoke, Dumbledore winced and quietly took his seat.

“Quite rightly so.” Andi agreed. “Having said that, we now know why the Headmaster extends his trust to Professor Snape.” She spoke formally, any warmth completely leeched from her voice. “And while we do not like his reasoning, he at least had the foresight to get an Oath on the man’s allegiance. Severus Snape is most definitely not working for… Tom Riddle. I wouldn’t say Professor Snape’s on the side of Light, more that he’s on whatever side Riddle isn’t. He will do whatever he can to bring down the monster responsible for killing Lily Potter.”

“Ah.” Remus nodded. “That explains a lot.”

“It does?” Neville asked.

“Oh.” Harry made the mental leap. “He was in love with mum…” He whispered.

“Yes.” Remus confirmed.

“Oh, well, yes… That makes… Everything he’s done makes so much more sense, now.” Harry rubbed at the back of his neck.

“It does?” Hermione asked.

“ ** _Think_** about it.” Harry said. “Knowing that? First year, the troll, it was Snape and McGonagall that found us, our head of house and **_Snape_**. It was Quirrell jinxing my broom but Snape was casting the **_counter jinx_**. He also cornered Quirrell and threatened him in the corridors one night. Then there’s Fluffy, Snape was bitten insuring that Quirrell didn’t get passed Fluffy and let’s not forget that his part in the protections was a **_logic_** puzzle. Hermione, **_how_** many times have you said that wizards have **_no_** logic and yet _**he**_ uses a logic puzzle? Then Second year? He did the duelling club with Lockhart The Incompetent but Professor **_Flitwick_** is the Duelling Master, not **_Snape_**. We brewed… well… **_you_** brewed polyjuice in a **_bathroom_** , how many times a day did Snape walk passed it? He’s a potions **_Master_** , he’d be able to **_smell_** it brewing and he did **_nothing_**. Then there was no retribution from him, after Crabbe and Goyle woke up, he **_had_** to know it was us that dosed them. He **_knew_** Ron and I were there when he challenged Lockhart to go after Ginny, looking back, he was trying to show us that Lockhart was useless. Third year, he brewed **_Wolfsbane_** for Remus, every month. He followed us to the Shack. He stepped **_between_** us and Remus as he became Moony, he shoved us **_behind_** him, the instant he realised what was happening, the **_instant_**. And as his **_bogart_** was a **_werewolf?_** Fourth year, he never picked on me in class, not **_once_**. That might not sound like much but this is Snape, he’s given me a rotten time in **_every_** class since I first arrived at Hogwarts, it’s **_huge_**. And this year? Occlumency lessons, I think now, that he was **_trying_** to make my mental shield **_snap_** into place. He **_told_** Umbitch that he didn’t have any veritaserum. He could have left it at that, but he **_also_** **_told us_** that she’d used the last of it on Cho **_and_** he didn’t tell her that he could brew more or get more from the hospital wing or the Headmaster’s office. He **_could_** have just left it at the same point I did, flooing headquarters and leaving a message with Kreacher, **_instead_** , he hunted around and told the all the members of the Order and sent them after us.” He ranted. “And let’s be honest, given how many times I’ve been in the hospital wing, if he **_wanted_** to kill me, all he’d have to do is make a small mistake in a potion. He does all the brewing for the hospital wing, after all.” Harry ended his rant and sat back, breathing hard.

The expression on the faces of the magicals was amusing.

“Oh, my…” McGonagall whispered. “We never gave it a thought. We just expected him to be professional about it…”

“Harry’s right…” Remus was just as quiet as McGonagall. “If he wanted to kill Harry…? It would have been so easy for him and it would never have been picked up. Just a minor mistake in dosage or strength.”

“Or suggest a potion that had an ingredient that Harry was allergic to.” Andi said darkly.

“So, it’s safe to say that Snape is on our side until we get rid of Riddle?” Bucky said. “What’s he likely to do, then?”

“I would say, he’ll probably wait for the furore to die down and offer me his resignation.” Dumbledore sighed.

“Can Hogwarts afford to lose a potions Master of his abilities?” Hermione asked.

“It will be a great loss.” Dumbledore admitted. “And will costs us, to either buy the potions he brewed or to hire another brewer.”

“Then why not hire him just to do the brewing?” Harry asked. “He doesn’t have to do classes, doesn’t have to put up with students, unless someone’s absolutely brilliant at potions, then maybe he could have an apprentice?”

“House Black will fund half of his wages, if he’ll undertake research into creating a cure for lycanthropy.” Sirius said.

Harry nodded, quickly. “House Potter will fund the other half.” He’d had a few sessions with Sirius learning the extent of the Potter holdings and while they weren’t quite as wealthy as the Blacks, that was only because Dumbledore had locked down Harry’s Gringotts vaults, putting a stop to changing any investments.

“House Longbottom will add to that, perhaps pay for a portion of the ingredients and materials needed.” Neville added.

“If I had anything, I’d help, too.” Hermione muttered.

“In that case,” Andi suggested, “you should really go to Gringotts and get inheritance test.”

“Actually, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for all of you to go.” Remus added. “I know a number of people that had died since the war ended... or paused I should say... that have left money to Harry. And Hermione? You may be a muggleborn but with the surname of Granger, there’s the possibility that you’re connected to the Dagworth-Grangers and that might mean a vault’s waiting for you.”

“Alright.” Falsworth said. “If we’re going to do that, I suggest that we alter the timing of our trip to Hogwarts from half-four to three o’clock. We go straight to Hogwarts, to the chamber and get a few basilisk fangs, from there to Grimmauld Place for the locket. Send Sirius back here with the locket, while a few of us take Harry to Gringotts.”

“Can I suggest a change to that?” Peggy looked around the table.

“Suggest away.” Falsworth said. “We’ll decide as a group.”

“Right.” Peggy nodded. “Swap things around a little, do Gringotts first, then Hogwarts and Grimmauld Place. As far as Hogwarts and Grimmauld is concerned, I’d change nothing but making them later. But for Gringotts and Diagon Alley? I’d suggest going a little more… obvious. Dum-dum, Falsworth, Morita and Barnes dress in duelling robes or something similarly threatening, Sirius in his Animagus form with a heavy chunky-studded collar, make them all look like a protection detail.”

“Bodyguards, you mean?” Hermione asked.

“Yes.” Peggy nodded. “Have four men, clearly armed and escorting Harry, calling him Mr Potter, or Sir, ignoring anyone else that speaks to them, deferring to Harry when approaching a shop or person. Maybe with Remus as Harry’s guide?”

“No, not Remus.” Harry shook his head. “Tonks and Kingsley. In their Auror robes. Moody? Any chance you can get Madam Bones to sign-off on them being assigned as my security or trainers? And getting her okay on muggle bodyguards as well?”

“And how do you plan to get around the fact that they know about magic?” Moody asked. “I should be obliviating them not getting official approvals.”

“Tell her that they’d been magically de-aged.” Neville suggested. “Or that they’re squibs.”

“Peggy’s a squib, but the others aren’t and Madam Bones will insist on testing them.” Andi reminded them. “And the de-aging can be reversed. Best to keep that to ourselves.”

Harry grinned, an evil grin. “Tell her I’ve already hired them and had them sign Gringotts’ contracts.” 

“She’ll want to see the contracts.” Moody grunted.

“Hermione? Can you write up something that sounds **_really_** heavy and binding... but _**isn’t?**_ Bill? Can you approach Gringotts about getting it made into a contract?”

“That’s my pup!” Sirius cackled.

“How far do you want to go?” Hermione asked.

“How about you, Bill and I do this together? If you’re happy with it and Bill’s happy with it, Harry should be fine with it. Right, Harry?” Peggy countered and the trio quickly moved to a smaller table and began scribbling notes on a pad.

“Tell the goblins that we want it backdated to… say the 25th of June?” Harry added, nodding in answer to Peggy’s last question. “Tell them that we had a muggle contract, but that we’d all feel safer with a magical one.”

“Will do.” Hermione just waved a hand over her head.

“We might wanna put the trip to Gringotts off until they get that done.” Moody suggested.

“If they take an hour to put it together, it should only take Gringotts another hour to formalise it.” McGonagall said.

“Then Alastor can take copies to Madam Bones and we’ll be good to go.” Sirius added.

“In the meantime?” Falsworth looked at Harry and Neville. “Boys? Back to it.”

Harry groaned but got to his feet and followed a grinning Bucky from the room.

“Bugger.” Neville sighed, but he too got to his feet, only he followed Morita out a different door.

“And you two.” Falsworth pointed at Sirius and Remus. “You need this almost as much as they do.”

Sirius and Remus exchanged looks and huffed. “Right.” Remus nodded. “Come on, Padfoot.”


End file.
